Ashleworth Court

Ashleworth Court is a Grade I farmhouse dating from about 1460, built for Bristol Abbey, with alterations made in the 17th century, second half of the 19th century by and for T. Fulljames, and the early 20th century. The building is constructed of coursed, squared blue lias with ashlar dressings to the openings, and has a tiled roof.

The house comprises a four-room main block with a cross wing projecting only at the rear, an oriel set in the angle between them, and a single-storey wing at the other end. Throughout the building, windows and doorways are characterised by hoodmoulds and voussoir-relieving arches, the latter omitted where they would sit close under the eaves. The gables have parapet forms with cross-gablet apices.

The west front elevation shows the house's medieval origins clearly. To the left of the cross passage are windows with mullion and transom. The cross wing on the left does not project forward; it has a three-light ground-floor window with a flat head and no hoodmould, and above this a two-light window with an arched head, with a gable above. To the right are two tall two-light windows originally serving the Great Hall, though their sills were lowered to different levels during the 19th and 20th centuries. A boarded door gives access to the cross passage. Three irregularly spaced lancet windows to the right have trefoil heads with flat hoodmoulds; sunk spandrels flank the left pair, and leaf carving ornaments the wider right-hand window. Above these are two two-light mullioned windows with trefoil heads to the lights and flat hoodmoulds. The left of these was converted to a door at some stage, cutting away the relieving arch of the window below. Three ridge chimneys mark the roof line, with the one on the right of the cross passage featuring a crenellated top.

The rear elevation shows external thickening of the wall on the left, where a single-storey wing with storerooms projects. A boarded door and two lancets appear to the right of this, with another boarded door serving the cross passage, which alone has a hoodmould. Relieving arches appear only to the doors here. Above are three corbels for the wallplate and a stone string marking the top of a former lean-to roof. A two-light mullioned window and a small quatrefoil window are set above these features. Two tall windows serving the Great Hall appear here also, with sills similarly lowered. The oriel projects on the left return with a boarded door beneath a cambered stone arch, probably a 19th-century opening, and a relieving arch marking a former window location. Above is a lancet window as seen on the front, with render on brick to the gable and no copings. A main-face lancet sits at ground-floor level, with a two-light mullioned window above, and a small ogee-headed lancet at half-height serving the stairs. The cross wing displays 20th-century metal French doors at ground-floor level on its left return, with a lancet as found on the front above, and a gable marked by the scar of a former narrow wing, the jamb of a blocked door above, and the line of its former roof. To the right are two-light casement windows with iron opening lights at ground floor and cambered stone arches. Above sits a two-light mullioned window with shouldered arches to the lower part and plain triangles above, inscribed "TF 1870", with a quatrefoil window at the top. A lateral chimney rises on the right return behind the lean-to room.

The interior reveals the building's medieval construction and subsequent alterations. The cross passage contains doors and a blocked door to the right, the latter leading to former stairs. Two service rooms line the passage, with the outline of a blocked wide fireplace visible in the gable wall. The Great Hall originally occupied the left side, open to the roof, but a floor was inserted in the 17th century, dividing it into two rooms. The ceiling of one of these has 12 compartments with deep chamfered beams. The partition separating the cross passage is timber-framed and ignores the ceiling beams' alignment. The oriel contains a spiral stone staircase, with stone paving in the front room of the cross wing and a 19th-century stone fireplace, whose exposed ceiling joists remain visible. A room adjoining the cross wing opens to the roof and is spanned by arch-braced collar trusses rising from stone corbels with moulded, crenellated wallplates. The roof structure contains two pairs of butt purlins, chamfered with pyramid stops, a square ridge, and curved windbraces arranged in three tiers. At the service end, the ceiling spans three bays, each subdivided into three sections, with the last bay probably subdivided in the late 19th century. The cross wing received a loft inserted in the 17th century, supported on three posts carrying the ends of the main beams. Its front room has three bays with trusses and roof matching the hall, with trusses against the gable and a stud partition. A single rear bay was originally also open to the roof but has a simple wallplate and no windbraces.

Ashleworth Court forms an important group with the parish church and tithe barn.