The Minster Nursing Home

The Minster Nursing Home is a house that was originally a vicarage, dating from the 17th century or earlier, and was converted into a nursing home. It was remodelled around the 1830s and 1840s. The building is constructed of rendered stone and features Bridgwater clay tiles along with black glazed pantile roofs that have hipped and gabled ends, supported by paired brackets at the eaves soffits. There are brick axial and end stacks.

The overall plan of the building is L-shaped. The central part of the main front range, facing south, originates from the 17th century or earlier, with the end bays projecting. The left end bay is likely a 19th-century addition, while the right extends as a wing to the rear and incorporates a truncated outbuilding at its northern end. A shallow range was added to the rear in the mid-19th century, which contains stairs and an entrance hall.

The exterior is two storeys high and nearly symmetrical, with a window arrangement of 1:2:1 on the south front. The end bays are advanced, featuring three-light 19th-century Gothic windows with cusped arch lights and glazing bars on the first floor. The ground floor has a similar four-light French casement window on the left and a three-light Gothic window on the right, which includes Perpendicular panel tracery. The projecting end bays have a 20th-century canted bay on the left and a glazed door with a four-pane sash on the right. The right-hand return features similar sashes and a truncated wing at the right end. The rear elevation is asymmetrical with a four-window range of two-light casements with glazing bars and hoodmoulds, along with a doorway to the left of centre that has a fanlight and a glazed and panelled door. The left wing projects and includes a 20th-century fire escape in the angle.

Inside, the central front room features two deeply chamfered cross-beams with hollow step stops, an elliptical arch at the centre and to the alcoves, Gothic panelled window shutters, and a plank door with ornate wrought-iron strap hinges and a scratch moulded frame. The 19th-century joinery includes a Tudor arch panelled door, a much altered staircase, and a moulded chimneypiece with a Victorian fire grate on the first floor. The roof over the central range has halved and lapped collars and halved apexes to the principals, with tenoned purlins.

The house was mentioned in a document from 1613, indicating it originally comprised a hall, parlour, kitchen, and buttery.