Masonic Lodge (Nyanza Lodge)

ILMINSTER

ST3414 BERRYMAN'S LANE 1939-1/6/8 (East side) 23/09/50 Masonic Lodge (Nyanza Lodge)

GV II

Formerly known as: Masonic Lodge (Nyanza Lodge) COURT BARTON. Masonic Lodge. Probably early C19, on old foundations. Large blocks of rough ashlar and coursed limestone rubble to the gable, probably Moolham stone, with pantile roof and brick stack to the left gable end of the main, older part facing south; Flemish-bond brick with a hipped slate roof to the rear single-story wing. L-shape plan. EXTERIOR: The main block is 2 storeys. 2-window range to the south front, the garden of which belongs to Abbot's Court. 2-light casement windows with glazing bars to the first floor, the ground floor has 2 wide segmental arches, that to the left with 4 fixed plate-glass panes between chamfered mullions; a 1950 door now fills that to the right. There is a similar arch to the right of that, in the adjoining Abbot's Court (qv). The main building is at a right-angle to the lane, facing which, on the left return (west), is an C18 Ham Hill stone Tuscan-style doorcase, re-positioned in 1913; the door is c1860, 4-panel with overlight. The brick rear wing, with a large boarded-up window, is connected by a wall, with a doorway under a stone lintel, to the next house to the north; the lintel and the quoin, are of Ham Hill stone. INTERIOR not inspected. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: a high limestone rubble wall, with wooden planked gate close to the lodge, runs along the lane to the right, enclosing part of Abbot's Court (qv) garden and is included in that description. HISTORY: In 1858, Captain John Hanning Speke, of Dillington House and member of the lodge, contemporary of Burton, Stanley and Livingstone, in searching for the source of the Nile, claimed he had found it in Lake Nyanza and named it Victoria N'yanza.

Listing NGR: ST3599814675