Red Lion Hotel, With Front Boundary Railings Attached

The Red Lion Hotel, likely dating primarily from the 1770s, with modifications and potentially incorporating earlier elements, stands on the east side of Market Place in Somerton. The building is constructed of local lias stone, squared and cut, with dressings of Ham stone. It has a Welsh slate roof with coped gables and brick chimney stacks.

The hotel is two storeys and five bays wide. Features include a plinth, cornice, plain parapet, thin, toothed ashlar quoins, and plain pilasters. The central bay has a string course reaching the impost level of a three-centred arch with a keystone, above which sits an open pediment displaying the arms of the Earls of Ilchester. Sash windows with 4+12+4 panes are present in the outer bays on both levels. Bays two and four have 8+12+8 pane sash windows, and the central bay on the upper floor features a Venetian window. 20th-century boarded doors in stone surrounds are located between bays one and two, and bays four and five: the door on the left has a pedimented surround, and the one on the right, a heavy stone hood on brackets.

The interior and buildings at the rear, arranged around a courtyard, were substantially altered in the later 20th century. A small stone kerb, reaching the height of the plinth, is attached to the front, along with wrought iron railings featuring simple twist spikes, enclosing small areas to each of the four outer bays, with returns to the facade. The north end of the hotel was once adapted to serve as a post office and is now reincorporated into the hotel. The building is notable for its impressive facade and its contribution to the streetscape.