Charlton House

Charlton House is a detached house dating to 1726, with later additions. It is constructed of local lias stone with painted Ham stone dressings, and has a hipped mansard roof covered with Welsh slates behind low parapets. Stone chimney stacks are also present. The house is two storeys with attics, and the west elevation has seven bays, with the end bays set back and slightly lower. A plinth, string courses, a low parapet with heavily moulded coping, and rusticated quoins are notable features. Bays 2 to 6 have eight-pane sash windows in bolection mould surrounds, with the upper windows having segmental arched heads and apron-panels. Semi-circular arched niches are set within matching architraves between bays 3 and 4 and 4 and 5. The entrance to bay 4 is through a pair of four-panel doors in a bolection mould architrave, sheltered by an open porch with Doric columns and an entablature. Dormer windows are visible in the roof above bays 3, 4, and 5. Bay 1 has a sixteen-pane sash window above and a three-light leaded mullioned and transomed window below with a central arched head. Bay 7 has blind panels at both levels, with a semi-circular arched niche and keystone below and a segmental arched panel above. A modern extension is located on the north gable, while a single-storey bay window is present on the south gable, along with a later lean-to extension to the rear. A separate dovecote exists nearby.

The interior has been modified, although six fielded panel doors remain, along with the staircase, which appears to be re-used from elsewhere, possibly from Manor Farmhouse. The northwest room has a ceiling cornice and frieze, believed to be from the 18th century, as does the southeast room. The attics have seen little alteration, retaining an original double roof plan, with some plank and muntin partitioning and a servants' stair leading to the unaltered space. The property, formerly known as Lanchers, belonged to the Lyte family of Lytes Cary from 1540, and was built by Thomas Lyte (died 1748). Lyte family crests feature on the rainwater stackheads. John Jerritt, who owned the property from 1800 to 1806, diverted the Kingweston Road, keeping the old road as a carriage drive. The property holds group value as a significant example of regional domestic architecture.