Balsam House

Balsam House is a 17th-century house located on Common Road in Wincanton. It is constructed from local stone with lime render and features ashlar dressings. The roof is made of plain clay tiles set between coped gables, with stone slate base courses, and there are ashlar and rendered brick chimney stacks. The house has an 'H'-plan layout with some additions.

It stands two storeys tall, with the original entrance on the south front consisting of three bays and an added wing at the southeast corner, which includes a wide bay and a projecting central porch. The exterior has a slight plinth and a string course between the floors. The outer bays feature 20-pane sash windows in architraves below and 3-light ovolo-mould mullioned windows under labels above. The central porch has a semi-circular unmoulded arch with impost blocks and a keystone, along with a string course and a panel above displaying the sculptured arms of the family who occupied and reformed the interior of the house in the 1930s. Above this, there is a small 2-light mullioned window with a label, and a similar window in the attic gable. The return wing has French doors under a label below and a 3-light ovolo-mould mullioned window above, but lacks a dividing string course.

The north elevation mirrors the south, featuring three bays with obelisk finials on the outer gables. Between the projecting wings are stairwell windows at mezzanine levels, along with a one-storey 20th-century porch with a flat roof behind a moulded low parapet. There are 19th and 20th-century extensions on the east and north sides, with the east side having a flat-roofed linked portion that includes a small wooden bell turret on its north wall.

The interior was nearly gutted in the 1930s. The house was owned by a Mr. Barnabie in the mid-17th century, but the exact date of construction is unknown. It underwent significant alterations by Nathaniel Ireson, although his work appears to have been completely removed, except for the patio walling.