Former Village Reading Room is a Grade II* listed building in the Somerset local planning authority area, England. First listed on 11 March 1968. A Medieval Reading room.
Former Village Reading Room
- WRENN ID
- fallen-soffit-raven
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Somerset
- Constituency
- Frome and East Somerset MP: Anna Sabine (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 11 March 1968
- Type
- Reading room
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- Former Village Reading Room, Witham Friary
- OS grid reference
- ST 744 410
- Coordinates
- 51.16839, -2.36675
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The former village reading room, which was once a dovecot, is now used as a store. It dates from around 1300 and was originally attached to the Carthusian Priory. The building was significantly remodeled and restored by Gill in 1900 for the Duke of Somerset. It is constructed from local limestone rubble with squared quoins and diagonal two-stage buttresses. The roof is covered with plain tiles and features a bellcast and parapets, along with a brick stack on the left side.
The facade is rectangular and designed in a Tudoresque style, standing three windows high. The interior is currently unfloored and consists of one bay. There is a five-light chamfered stone mullion window on the first floor, with a small square attic light above it. The central door opening has a chamfered segmental-headed stone surround and a plank door with strap hinges that display an Art Nouveau motif. Additionally, there is a tall two-light mullion and transom window on the left return. To the right side, there is a single-storey pent-roofed outshut. Inside, the building retains traces of pigeon holes and a fireplace from the restoration, which is a copy of the fireplace at the Charterhouse of Mount Grace in Yorkshire.
Local climate
Former Village Reading Room receives an average of 870 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 63% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 69% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 36 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 63% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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