Tintinhull Court

Tintinhull Court is a large detached house, originally a parsonage, with a medieval foundation and plan, significantly remodelled in 1678, 1777, and 1927. It is constructed from ham stone rubble with ashlar dressings, featuring a Welsh slate roof with coped gables, and ashlar chimney stacks arranged in a ‘Z’ plan.

The two-storey house with attics has an eight-bay east elevation. A plinth is present only to the first three bays. Bays one and two project as a gable, featuring two-light, ovolo-mould mullioned and transomed windows with square labels, and a central oval light in the gable. Bay three may be a late medieval fragment with a projecting angled corner buttress and a battlemented parapet, incorporating hollow-chamfer mullioned windows of three lights, the lower portion being large and exhibiting a relieving arch. Bay four has a possible garderobe in the corner. Bays five to eight have two-light, hollow-chamfer mullioned and transomed windows beneath square labels, with small hipped-roof dormers containing two-light casement windows set between the bays and, on bay four. All windows are rectangular with leaded panes. The lower bay of bay five contains the main entrance door, possibly from the earlier 17th century, with strapwork covermoulds to the boarding, set within a moulded semi-circular doorway with lozenge-decorated impost blocks and a keystone. To the right of the door are a pair of small cusped lancet windows.

The north elevation, overlooking the churchyard, has three bays. Bay one is an end gable with two-light, chamfer-mullioned windows with labels to both the first floor and attic, and a matching single-light window with label to the left of bay two. Bays two and three feature 18th-century mullioned windows with four-centre arched lights; a two-light window is above without a label, and a four-light window sits below, sharing a label. A single-storey extension matching the main house is located at the west end, with another four-light window. The south wing contains panelled rooms, with the central room representing a later 17th-century transitional style, combining Jacobean and Queen Anne influences, and featuring a deep moulded ceiling. A door into the hall is set into a semi-circular arch reminiscent of the front door. A recently exposed doorway, likely medieval, was found in a room north of the entrance passage.

The rear wing dates back to 1777; the 1927 works seemingly include the staircase and a bay window on the west elevation. The house was historically associated with the Napper family for approximately 250 years, originally serving as a medieval parsonage. In 1546, shortly after the dissolution of Montacute Priory, the Nappers obtained a lease for the property. Several members of the family are buried in the church and churchyard of St. Margaret.