Grotto and Bridge Adjacent to East of No 71 (The Tower House) is a Grade II listed building in the Somerset local planning authority area, England. First listed on 24 February 1987. Grotto.
Grotto and Bridge Adjacent to East of No 71 (The Tower House)
- WRENN ID
- winding-flagstone-plover
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Somerset
- Constituency
- Wells and Mendip Hills MP: Tessa Munt (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 24 February 1987
- Type
- Grotto
- OS grid reference
- ST 377 398
- Coordinates
- 51.15418, -2.89113
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The grotto, built in the early 19th century by William Stradling, is located adjacent to the east of No 71 (The Tower House) in Chilton Polden. It is constructed from rubble and tufa and consists of a pair of small connected vaulted chambers, with the floors set slightly below ground level. The chambers are surrounded by an earth bank, supported by retaining walls, creating an irregular oblong mound. One chamber features a roof that rises to a cylindrical rubble ventilator, which has narrow openings in stone surrounds. There are three entrances with steps leading down into the chambers. The east chamber contains a romantic text inscribed on a marble slab. At the east end of the mound, there is a mock pagan altar made of four large stone slabs. Access to the north entrance is provided by a causeway that crosses between two ponds, leading to a small rubble bridge with rough-hewn abutments.
Local climate
Grotto and Bridge Adjacent to East of No 71 (The Tower House) receives an average of 820 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 50% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 66% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 24 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 74% of listed buildings. Of these, 8 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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