Enmore Castle With Service Court Outbuildings And Undercroft

ST23NW ENMORE CP CHURCH LANE (North side)

2/23 Nos. 1 and 2 Enmore Castle with service court outbuildings and undercroft

GV II

Country house; remaining wing of a larger building, now mostly demolished, undercroft surviving; now divided into 2 dwellings. Ante 1779 for John Perceval, Earl of Egmont; early/mid C19 work by Broadwood family to remaining wing; much mid C20 internal alteration. Rubble, freestone dressings and quoins, hipped slate roof with wide bracketed eaves, brick stacks. Formerly a large pseudo-baronial mansion with central courtyard and corner towers, stables and offices in a large undercroft; about one quarter still survives, though large preparation of undercroft remains. Three storeys with basement; garden front to No 1 of 1:3:1 bays; each outer bay in a projecting square turret, semi-circular head windows in bead-moulded surrounds with emphasised imposts and keystones, sash windows with glazing bars and traceried gothick heads, 4-pane sash windows with square heads in dressed stone surrounds to second floor. Centre 3 bays with 2 similar gothick sash windows; three 2-light stone- mullioned windows under stepped labels, each light with a semi-circular head; and 4 pairs of French windows in mullioned and transomed surrounds. Between the wings a 2-storeyed dressed stone verandah on pillars, each floor with an entablature, first floor with a strapwork parapet. Inset on first floor 2 stone medallions with carved busts. To right of frontage a loggia in similar style to the verandah connected to a single storey, single-bay pavilion, gothick sash window. Entrance elevation with sash windows, some paired. Two entrances, one to each dwelling, both altered mid C20. To rear ground drops away to basement storey, wall with distinct batter, loopholes in dressed stone surrounds; service court with outbuildings to south. Semi-circular archways; one forming an entrance, attached brick-vaulted undercroft. Three storey round tower. West side of service court enclosed by wall with banking to rear which supports an elevated roadway, this covers a brick-vaulted undercroft; undercroft continues to south and east in several parts forming an extensive labyrinth of underground passages and vaults, mostly brick-lined. Interiors of dwellings with some gothick features; room to ground floor of No. 2 with a panelled cornice with egg and dart enrichment, pair of fluted Corinthian columns. Some plaster medallions with carved busts. (Pevsner N., Buildings of England, South and West Somerset, 1958).

Listing NGR: ST2393135267