Fromefield House

Fromefield House is a large house dating from the late 18th century, likely built around 1797 and exhibiting architectural influences of the Adam style. It was probably designed by the same architect responsible for Mendip and Welshmill House. The house was commissioned for George Sheppard, a local landowner. The front façade is constructed of ashlar and is symmetrical. It features a hipped slate roof with a blocking course, a moulded cornice, a rusticated plinth, a band at the first floor level, and a moulded cill band to all first-floor windows. A carved string runs above the first-floor windows. The corners are recessed and rounded. The house is two storeys high and has five windows, with glazing bar sashes in reveals. The outer central first-floor openings are set in round-headed recesses with moulded architrave surrounds and impost bands; these windows have pediments on consoles, blind panels above, and garlanded panels below. The remaining windows have plain reveals. The central doorway is slightly projecting, with a cornice featuring a garlanded frieze on consoles, double glazed doors, and narrow side lights. Two later doors are situated on either side of the main doorway. The four-window return elevation to the left displays an irregular arrangement of levels, with a similar treatment and a central coved niche on the ground floor. The rear elevation has been altered but retains part of an eight-light ground-floor window to the left of centre, featuring moulded stone mullions. It also retains an oval tablet in a reeded surround on the first floor. A return to the north is partly three storeys high, with a ground-floor window to the left featuring a five-light flat mullion and transom window. The interior includes a stone staircase lit from above, with cast-iron balusters and a floor paved with ball flags and small diamond stones set in the corners.