The Courts

The Courts is a country house, originally built in the early 18th century and subsequently extended in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The front is faced with limestone ashlar, the returns with dressed limestone, and the roof is covered in stone slate, featuring gable end stone stacks and coped verges. The house follows a rambling L-plan layout.

The two-storey and attic main block has a five-window front. A central door, consisting of eight fielded panels, is set within a Tuscan portico topped with a segmental pediment. Flanking the door are two 15-pane sashes within moulded architraves, the inner sashes with scrolled pediments, and the outer with broken pediments. The first floor features a central 15-pane sash supported by Ionic columns and framed by a round-arched surround, and two flanking bays with sashes incorporating scrolled or broken pediments, mirroring the ground floor. A raised pediment with a round-arched sash sits above the centre, rising to a moulded cornice. Two hipped attic dormers contain 2-light casements.

The left return displays two blind beaded windows on both the ground and first floors, while the attic has single-light casements with iron balconies. An early 20th-century loggia, supported by Ionic columns, is attached to the corner. The rear of the house features a gabled 18th-century stair turret and a wing to the left, with 12-pane and 18-pane sashes. Attached is an early 20th-century two-storey addition with sashes and a flat roof, alongside a single-storey dining room dating from the 1880s, and a hipped dormer to the main roof.

An 18th-century L-plan service wing projects to the right of the front, incorporating a 2-light cyma-mullioned casement, one within a blocked doorway. The gable end has a round-arched sash with a keystone and impost. Lean-to extensions are attached to the right return, and there are mullioned casements to the first floor.

Inside, the central entrance hall is notable for its fireplace with a dentil cornice, moulded panelling, and plaster ceiling cornice. A grand staircase leads to the rear, featuring two turned balusters per tread, a wreathed moulded handrail, a dado with fielded panelling, fluted newels, and pilasters on the dado, along with elliptical arched doorways off the landings. The sitting room on the left of the entrance has a fireplace with a scrolled frieze and dentil cornice, alongside full raised panelling. The library features a grey marble fireplace decorated with paterae and Delft tiles. The 1880s dining room, now a billiard room, showcases a bolection-moulded fireplace and wainscot panelling with a strapwork frieze, reportedly taken from Tytherton Manor, along with panelled ceiling.

The house was likely built for a clothier, and until 1888, there was a mill within the grounds. Early 20th-century additions were carried out by Sir George Hastings, who also designed features in the surrounding garden. The Courts is now owned by the National Trust.