The Dower House And Attached Gateway (Blocked), North East Of Somerton Court

The Dower House, near Somerton Court, is a former lodge dating from the early 19th century, with later 20th-century alterations. It is constructed of roughly cut and squared local lias stone, with dressings in Ham stone, and has a hipped roof covered in asbestos cement slates, topped by a stone chimneystack. The building has a trapezoidal plan, extending over two storeys.

The north-facing, roadside elevation features a recessed bay with curved returns to the left. This bay contains a studded boarded door set in a heavy frame, within a plain opening topped with a voussoired flat arch. To the right of the entrance is a two-light, pointed arched casement window with small panes and Y-tracery, with a matching window on the upper floor. The east elevation contains 20th-century ovolo-moulded mullioned windows on the ground floor of the first bay and the upper floor of both bays. The ground floor of the second bay has an earlier mullioned window of the same style set within a blocked four-centred archway with a shaped label and plain jambs; this may have been reused from Somerton Court.

Attached to the north-east corner is a section of wall which contains a blocked elliptical-arched gateway. The gateway was filled in with lias stone rubble in 1989, but its location remains visible. The interior has not been inspected.

The building has group value with Somerton Court, the main house it originally served. It is designated at Grade II for its architectural interest as a well-proportioned Gothic composition, its largely unaltered exterior, and its contribution to the wider historic ensemble.