Abbey House

ST625W 7/144

SOUTH CADBURY CP SUTTON MONTIS CHURCH HILL (West side)

Abbey House

24.3.61

GV II*

Former priest's house. C15 and later. Local lias stone rubble, part rendered, Doulting stone dressings; double Roman clay tile roof with plain gables; brick chimney stacks. Entrance on south side, which is 2-storey; 5 bays, of which bay 3 has a projecting 2-storey porch: bays 1 and 2, the west end, the oldest portion. Hollow-chamfer mullioned windows of 2 types: bays 1, 2 lower and 5 lower have 4-centre, almost triangular, arched lights, the lower with labels; bays 2, 3 and 5 upper and 4 lower have flat-headed lights; all windows 2-light except those to bay 5, which are 3-light; the window to upper bay 4 is a horizontal bar casement: porch to bay 3 has plain doorway with part-glazed inner door on heavy frame. West gable has, below, 4-light hollow-chamfer mullioned window, flat headed lights with some early external ironwork, set in plain recess, no label; above, centred on gable a 2-light C15 traceried pointed arched window without label: boarding to crown of gable. North elevation (roadside) of 7 bays: all windows of 2 lights; bay 1 has hollow-chamfer mullioned window with flat head to lights below, no label, and above an ovolo-mould mullioned window with label; bay 2 has a 4-centre arched window below, under square label, and above blank; bay 3 a flat-headed window with inserted timber lintol below, and an early casement window above, half rectangular-leaded and half diamond- leaded; bays 4 and 6 have near-triangular arched light windows at upper level, and between then a 3-centre arched window, all three without labels; below a 3-light casement under timber lintol bay 5: lean-to porches bays 4 and 6: bay 7 has a projecting chimney stack of considerable size, and there is an angled corner buttress with offsets to the north-west. The east gable has an oven projection, a leaded casement window and a C20 window, and some unexplained corbel brackets. Inside, the east gable has a wide, open fireplace with elm beam, side oven and possibly a curing chamber above; roughly chamfered cross beam to east room; west room has fine moulded fireplace with nearly triangular arch, probably early C15: stair case of c1800: north-west corner bedroom has chamfer mould fireplace with triangular arched lintol over: several 2-panel doors on first floor; roof frame of A-frame collar trusses at east end, and then 4 arch-braced curved collar-trusses, with two purlins to each slope,, the lower and middle sections arch-windbraced. The building probably erected by the Mont-Acute (Montacute) family who held lands here from the Conquest until the end of the C15.

Listing NGR: ST6238024871