The Temple is a Grade II listed building in the Somerset local planning authority area, England. First listed on 24 February 1987. A C19 Folly tower.
The Temple
- WRENN ID
- low-alcove-barley
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Somerset
- Constituency
- Wells and Mendip Hills MP: Tessa Munt (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 24 February 1987
- Type
- Folly tower
- Address
- The Temple, Broadway, Chilton Polden
- OS grid reference
- ST 379 398
- Coordinates
- 51.1546, -2.88869
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Temple is a folly tower built in the early 19th century, incorporating reused features from the 15th century. It was designed by William Stradling. The structure is made of coursed and squared rubble with ashlar and freestone dressings, although the roof is missing. It has a Gothic style with Perpendicular features and is square in plan, situated on a mock-moated site.
The tower has two stages and features diagonal buttresses with offsets on the entrance front, along with pinnacles. The central door opening has a semi-circular head and is surrounded by a moulded and shafted frame, with a label and carved spandrels. Above the door is a much-decayed mullioned and transomed window, with remaining lights that are cusped and have blank heads, along with carved spandrels. Smaller similar windows are found on the north and south sides, though the tracery is missing. A moulded stone cornice runs around the top, and at one corner, there is a corbel carved as an angel.
Inside, there is a stone staircase and the remains of a former stone vault that supported the first floor. The structure was noted to be in poor condition during a re-survey in September 1985.
Local climate
The Temple receives an average of 820 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 50% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 66% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 24 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 74% of listed buildings. Of these, 8 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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- No sale records on file
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- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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