Frocester Court

Frocester Court is a former monastic court house, now a detached residence, located on Frocester Court Road. The building dates from the late 15th century with an early 16th-century wing, and underwent major enlargement in the late 16th century. It was reduced in size during the mid to late 18th century and received early 19th-century refacing.

The structure is built of ashlar and coursed and random rubble limestone with ashlar chimneys and a stone slate roof. It comprises a four-bay hall with a two-bay side wing and long additional wings forming an L-plan. The building is two storeys with an attic, with outbuilding ranges to the rear.

The south west front features a roughly central two-storey gabled porch with a Tudor style moulded doorway having a panelled entablature over and a mullioned and transomed upper floor casement. Two upper floor and one ground floor two-light casements appear to the left in a wall with some early masonry, possibly rebuilt when a projecting wing was demolished. An inserted mullioned and transomed casement to the left is flanked by narrow offset buttresses. The projecting gable end of the hall range to the right, probably refaced in the early 19th century, has large mullioned and transomed casements to both ground and upper floors, each with hood moulds. Three ridge-mounted diagonal-set chimney stacks stand to the left.

The south east side shows a parapet gable end of the short early 16th-century wing to the left, largely refaced in the early 19th century with single-window fenestration: a tall two-light to ground floor and a two-light above, both with recessed chamfered frames and hood moulds. A small blocked window, possibly a stair light, appears to the left. The north east return wall shows many indications of alterations, and a projecting chimney stack was probably removed. The main range to the right displays three phases of construction. From left to right: early 16th-century refacing of a 15th-century hall; a later 16th-century addition with two and three-light casements with an upper floor rebuilt at a later date; and an 18th-century former dairy beyond the original gable end-mounted chimney with paired diagonal shafts. Double plank doors with a timber lintel and a bricked-up opening above are flanked by two reset quatrefoil vents. A single-window fenestration and small gabled late 18th-century closet projection to the right feature a two-light south east-facing casement.

The north west end shows an early 19th-century refaced parapet gable with a slightly later two-storey canted bay window having a crenellated top, extended down into the cellar area with two trefoil-headed windows.

The rear of the building displays varied construction. The left part features a catslide roof over an early 19th-century pentice with chamfered stone piers. The late 16th-century addition at the centre retains original two-light mullioned casements. The range extends to the right with a 15th or early 16th-century projecting chimney stack, possibly from a separate building, incorporated during the late 16th-century enlargement. Many attached outbuildings, mostly 18th or early 19th-century, have coped gables and groups of diagonal-shafted projecting chimney stacks, including one cart shed with loft attached to a low single-storey range.

The interior reveals much timber framing of the four-bay hall, discovered in recent investigations. Three roof trusses date to the original late 15th century, with two visible in the open roof of the principal upper floor room, featuring arched wind bracing. A large stone fireplace on the ground floor was reduced in size by an inserted 19th-century Tudor style fireplace with well-detailed carving. A framed smoke bay stands at the north west end. The short south east side wing retains more elaborate two-tier inverted bracing to its roof. Two carved and reset oak panels are said to represent George Huntley, the post-Dissolution owner, and his wife. An 18th-century internal privy closet at the end of the wing is approached by a corridor with a waiting room.

The earliest structure represents a monastic court house with a later steward's wing. Following the Dissolution, the building was greatly enlarged, with two wings enclosing a courtyard on the south west side both demolished by 1784.