53 Castle Street

53 Castle Street is a house dating from the late 17th or early 18th century, with later alterations including an early 19th-century extension. It is located on the north side of Castle Street in Nether Stowey. The building was formerly listed as No. 51.

The house is constructed largely of rubble stone, rendered to the principal elevation, with a double Roman tiled roof and stone and brick stacks. It has an L-shaped plan with a rear addition to the north east.

The two-storey principal elevation faces south and comprises four bays. The principal entrance is in the third bay, featuring a six-panelled door with the top four panels glazed, topped by an iron tent canopy hood supported on decorative wooden latticework. The fenestration consists largely of hornless sash windows, reflecting early 19th-century refashioning. A secondary doorway has been inserted into one of the window openings. A large external stone stack is positioned against the north west side of the building behind the front range.

The rear wing projects northwards and is two storeys high. Its west elevation contains two first-floor openings: a late 17th-century timber window with leaded panes and another opening covered with plastic corrugated sheeting. The ground floor has an arch-headed doorway that is a later insertion. A late 20th-century lean-to of plastic corrugated sheeting is attached to the right of this doorway. The north gable wall to the wing has no features; a stack at its apex has been removed and the roof pitch has been altered. A two-storey lean-to addition, probably added in the 18th or 19th century, is built against the east wall of the rear wing. It is constructed of rubble stone with casement windows, including one ground-floor window with a fine chamfered stone lintel.

Internally, the cottage largely retains its original plan form, with a through passage leading to the rear wing where the staircase is positioned. Both principal rooms to the front range have fireplaces: a large open fireplace with a timber bressumer in the right-hand room and a marble fireplace opposite. The hallway has 20th-century panelling and decorative wall mouldings to the stair hall. The staircase features turned balusters and plain handrails, although one section has moulded and flat-topped rails. The northern two bays of the rear wing are used as workshops and storage, with blocked fireplaces on both ground and first floors at the northern end and a chamfered ceiling beam. The southern bay remains in domestic use and forms the stair hall.

The roof to the front range consists largely of pegged carpentry with principal rafters, slightly cambered tie beams, and scarf-jointed trenched purlins. Additional carpentry has been introduced over the years to strengthen the roof. The rear wing roof contains 19th and 20th-century timbers, but the southern bay retains a closed truss of lath and plaster.

A stone-built boundary wall fronts the property. The pedestrian entrance has brick-built gate piers with stone caps surmounted by ball finials.

The cottage, formerly known as Ivy Cottage, appears to date from the late 17th or early 18th century as a two-cell through-passage house with a substantial rear wing. It once formed part of the estate of Castle Hill House, a 17th-century Grade II listed building situated further west along Castle Street. An estate map of 1815 shows the cottage at the south-eastern edge of an orchard, where it is believed to have functioned as a manager's house. The rear wing, formerly domestic accommodation, was a cider house at that time. Approximately two-thirds of the rear wing remains out of domestic use, functioning as a workshop and storage area.

The building retains significant late 17th or early 18th-century fabric, including the large external stack, an inglenook fireplace, and considerable roof carpentry. It also retains fabric from later alterations, including early 19th-century refashioning of the principal elevation and a rear addition, probably of 19th-century date. The early plan form remains legible.