Court House

Court House is a detached house on the south side of Langport Road in Long Sutton. It dates from the 14th century with significant work in the 15th and 17th centuries, and underwent restoration in 1932.

The building is constructed from local lias stone, roughly cut and squared, with Ham stone dressings. The roof is clay pantiled over stone slate base courses, sitting between coped gables with gabletted finials to the north and west. Stone chimney stacks project above the roofline.

The house follows a 'T' plan with additions. The south-east elevation presents two storeys across five bays, with a single-storey projecting porch at bay three. Windows throughout feature hollow chamfer mullioned designs with four-centre arched lights, some leaded; most have square labels. Bay one contains three-light windows at both levels, bay two has two-light windows, and the upper bay three is a three-light window set higher. Bay four has a two-light window above, with the lower window now blocked. Bay five has an early 20th-century three-light small-pane casement window. The porch, probably dating from the 17th century, has a coped gable with gabletted finial and an open semi-circular arched archway with moulded imposts, keystone and semi-circular label. A 15th-century board and strip door sits within in a cambered arched doorway.

The north-west elevation features a projecting two-storey porch at centre with angled corner buttresses, though its doorway is now blocked and a pointed relieving arch remains visible above. A two-light mullioned window sits above. Other windows on this elevation include a lower-bay mullioned window, 18th-century leaded casements with iron opening lights, and a projecting chimney breast with a plain gable bay.

The north-east elevation displays a four-light mullioned window at first-floor level with a squared label stepped over a small plaque inscribed "Thomas Spigurnell, Gent, 1658", and a matching two-light window above.

The south-west elevation includes a 20th-century French door and a casement with iron opening lights under an old timber lintel or frame member. To the right is an early casement of seven lights with close-set square uprights, positioned diagonally. At first-floor level are a small stair light and a blocked attic window in the gable.

Internally, the house comprises two distinct halves. The southern half appears to have always been two-storeyed, with the south-east wall possibly timber-framed. A central cross passage separates the sections; the original south-east doorway is blocked by a 17th-century staircase, probably installed by Thomas Spigurnell in 1658. A timber doorway from the passage leads into the north-west porch.

The northern half contains the Hall proper, now divided by an inserted floor. Below is a room with a square-headed moulded fireplace in the north-west wall. The chamber above retains an open smoke-blackened roof, part of which has been repaired. Three main bays are divided by arched-braced collar-tie trusses with raised base-cruck principals, and intermediate braced crown-post trusses with curved windbraces. At the southern end, a plank and muntin partition at high level screens the remainder of the roof. The north-west wall holds two cambered arched fireplaces; adjacent to these, a framed boarded door possibly dating from the 16th century opens into the room over the porch. This room has a curved collar-truss roof of two bays and internal iron bars to its two-light window. Above the through passage runs a moulded boarded partition with nine-panel floor, probably from the 17th century.

The building appears to represent the farmhouse of Sutton St. Cleers Manor, though there is no direct documentary evidence for the name "Court House". After falling into severe disrepair, it was restored by the Clark family, the shoemakers of Street, and vested in a Quaker Trust in 1932.