Court House To North West Of Court Farmhouse

A late 16th-century courthouse, now a barn, situated to the northwest of Court Farmhouse. The building is constructed of dressed and squared limestone, with ashlar chimneying and a stone slate roof. Attached to the east side is a lean-to of no particular interest. The east side features a central and right-hand chamfered pointed-arched doorway, the central one being blocked, and the right one containing a later plank door. The windows are arranged in a chequerboard pattern, consisting of two-light double-chamfered mullioned casements with hoodmoulds. An upper-floor window on the left side is blocked. Small ground-floor windows at each outer end provide access to spiral staircases. The north end has a parapet gable with a finial, and windows on the upper floor and in the attic. The south end has a similar fenestration arrangement in the gable, with a 17th-century inserted doorway containing a 19th-century plank stable door. The west side has a chequerboard fenestration pattern, with four ground-floor and two upper-floor openings, all two-light. Later alterations include a large raking buttress that blocks a ground-floor window and a blocked upper-floor window. One upper-floor window has been enlarged to create a loading doorway, now fitted with a timber casement. Some original fragments of leading remain in the windows, though most now have 19th-century fixed lights. A central ridge chimney has a moulded cap. Inside, there are stone spiral staircases in each corner, one rising to the attic and the other terminating at the upper floor. A later central chimney and stone partition walls at the mid-length are also present. The attic remains undivided. The roof is a fine 5-bay collar truss construction, with arched windbracing to the lower tier of purlins, all exhibiting high-quality joinery with numbered and pegged joints. The floor beams and joists are also of joinery quality and regularly spaced. The building’s historical use likely included serving as borough courts and a gaol in the mid-18th century, suggesting a public function. It is considered a rare Cotswold example of a courthouse.