Abbot'S Court And Attached Walls And Gate Piers

Abbot's Court is a house dating from the 17th century, which was refronted and altered in the 19th century and again in 1950. It is located in Ilminster, Somerset. The house is constructed of squared and coursed limestone rubble, with a thatched roof to the front and pantile to the rear. Brick stacks are present at the gable ends and in the centre of the rear elevation. Originally a three-unit plan, the building has an exterior with a raised roof, showing mortices to former mullions in the soffit of the wall plate of the roof, though these do not align with the 19th-century three-light casement windows. A step in the line of the eaves is evident where the wall above the two right-hand ranges has been raised, and wrought-iron brackets are attached to a former gutter along the facade. Taller two-light casements are found on the first floor to the right. A 20th-century door is situated to the inside right, and is accessed by a trellised porch with a hipped lead roof, built in a style reminiscent of the 1840s but reconstructed in 1950. To the left of the door are 20th-century six-pane sashes, one to the right and two to the left, all under reconstructed stone lintels. A 19th-century three-light window with chamfered stone mullions and cast-iron frames with small panes, designed in a manner similar to windows at the former grammar school (now No.28 Court Barton), sits to the far left, and is set under a segmental relieving arch. A brick wall, attached to the adjacent Masonic Lodge, extends south for 20 metres to tall 19th-century gate piers that mark the entrance to a 19th-century coach house (not included in the listing). An 18th-century Flemish-bond brick wall is attached to the northeast corner and runs northwards, connecting to No.56 High Street. The interior features blue lias flagstone floors in the passage and right-hand lower room. A timber-and-plaster partition wall separates a room to the left, which contains two chamfered beams and a large 17th-century fireplace with an oak Tudor-arch lintel in the rear right corner. The remainder of the interior is largely of 19th-century character, with a marble fireplace to the right-hand room, a staircase with stick balusters and a turned newel, and six-panel doors. The walls attached to the house are limestone rubble and brick, forming substantial boundary features.