Clapton Court

Clapton Court is a house, now farmhouse, located on the south side of Clevedon Lane in Clapton in Gordano. It retains a 15th-century north elevation, with the remainder substantially rebuilt in the mid 19th century, possibly incorporating earlier structures, and further altered over later centuries. Principal rebuilding occurred in the 17th century and early to mid 19th century.

The building is constructed of sandstone rubble with limestone dressings. The roof is plain tiled with crestings and brick stacks, supplemented by some pantiles and single Roman tiles.

The plan comprises a 15th-century north porch with rear right stair projecting forward from the north elevation. The main north front range was remodelled in the 19th century with a deep stair hall flanked by reception and dining rooms. A 17th-century single-room range occupies the rear right, extended further to the rear in the early to mid 19th century to create an L-plan. An additional room was added to the rear of the left-hand room (to the left of the porch) during the early to mid 19th century.

The front is dominated by a three-storey porch tower featuring a broad moulded pointed arched entrance with hood mould, mask stops and relieving arch. Above the entrance sits a small inset stone shield with a cusped head. An inner similar doorway with hood mould leads to 19th-century double doors with quatrefoil glazing, with benches to either side. The first floor of the tower contains a two-light window with cusped lights, stopped hood mould and relieving arch; the second floor has a smaller similar window. A string course with gargoyles runs across the facade, topped by an embattled parapet. The left side of the tower displays similar windows and an inset shield at first floor; some windows retain iron stanchions. The right side features a newel stair corbelled out in the angle with two lancets.

To the left of the tower, the ground floor has a three-light window with plain round heads and hood mould. The first floor contains a mullion and transom window with cusped ogee heads and a blind below the transom. The second floor has a 19th-century replacement two-light cusped window with relieving arch. Weathered single buttresses stand to the left.

To the right of the tower, the first floor has a wooden two-light cusped window and a wide external stack to the former hall. The former gable end behind the porch tower has coping with a half-hipped roof to the rear wing behind.

The left return is two-and-a-half storeys with two windows. Ground and first floor windows are all margin-glazed sashes with sidelights and splayed limestone lintels and keystones. The attic has two similar sashes under the eaves. The rear of this wing has a ground floor similar sash, with first and second floor two-light sashes of varied sizes, all with brick lintels.

The lower two-storey rear wing, set back, has a lean-to with two 20th-century windows and a door, a two-light casement with timber lintel, and a raised coped verge with brick stack above. The roof to the left of the verge is pantiled. The lower ground floor has a three-light casement with timber lintel, and the first floor has a two-light casement with segmental head. The rear gable end has upper ground and first floor 20th-century glazed doors.

The right return has varied windows: ground floor to the left has a similar sash with sidelights and overlight, a 20th-century glazed porch and door, and a two-light casement with segmental head above. Two two-light casements sit under the eaves, with a straight joint to the right. Ground and first floors to the right have three-light casements. A brick lean-to with door and two-light casement sits at ground floor. A three-light casement with timber lintel and relieving arch appears at lower ground floor, and a three-light casement with segmental head at first floor.

Internally, the porch contains an early to mid 19th-century Gothick-style double door and a stone newel stair to the rear right, with pointed-arched chamfered doorways leading from it. A very thick transverse wall, probably 15th-century, stands to the right of the porch and extends to the rear. A thin 19th-century transverse wall, possibly replacing a screen, sits to the left of the porch and extends to the rear.

The 17th-century range features ogee-stopped chamfered beams (the roof was not inspected). Nineteeth-century rooms have panelled doors and shutters with moulded cornices. The room to the right contains a marble fireplace with enriched cornice and ceiling rose of circa 1850. A stick-baluster stair and 19th-century roofs are present. Many features of probable interest are obscured by later plasterwork.

Clapton Court was originally the home of the Arthur family. The shield on the porch displays the arms of Arthur impaling those of Berkeley, commemorating the marriage of Richard Arthur (circa 1422–61) to Alice, daughter of James Lord Berkeley.