Banwell Court (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
The Abbey

In the civil parish of Banwell.
In the historic county of Somerset.
Modern Authority of North Somerset.
1974 county of Avon.
Medieval County of Somerset.

OS Map Grid Reference: ST40025914
Latitude 51.32807° Longitude -2.86221°

Banwell Court has been described as a probable Palace.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

This is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law*.

Description

Banwell Abbey and The Cloisters
2 houses, formerly one bishop's residence constructed within or on site of monastic foundation. C14 and perhaps earlier, C15 and major reworkings in early and late C19. (Hans Price, 1870). Rubble, ashlar, slate roofs. Main block; 6 windows between buttresses, 3 storeys, 4 in west tower, middle bay breaks forward; mixed fenestration some 2 light mullioned under pointed dripmoulds, some square headed; some sashes some casements; the whole battlemented, central pediment bears crozier, end buttresses surmounted by finials; 3 stage polygonal tower to. left with single pointed lights gargoyles and battlements; parallel range has 2 embattled gables, a round headed entrance under an embattled, gabled porch and 2 light windows under drips; in east gable is a substantial fragment of a large perpendicular window. Various single storey rear outbuildings, all gabled. Interior is a superb Victorian pastiche with a double height hall with large dog leg staircase, ornate plastered rooms with flat arch fireplaces, some of C16 origin. Former chapel and cloister; to right (east)of main block the former chapel now has 2 storeys, at east end is a 3 light window of the C14 above C20 plain chamfered surround windows, to south an embattled tower with single lights and a porch in the re-entrant angle. C19 single storey wing which runs north from former chapel has cusped 3 light windows and a pointed arch entrance below battlements and between buttresses with finials. Interior contains remnants of the cloister walk with 2 light C15 cusped windows. (Listed Building Report)

Also known as the Abbey. Two houses, formerly a single building built as a bishop's residence 1443-65. Allegedly constructed within or on the site of a Saxon monastic foundation, but that is generally considered to be either at ST35NE12 or to be at or near near Banwell church (ST35NE21). The building is C14 and perhaps earlier, altered in C15 with major reworkings in the early and late C19. It contains C15 domestic chapel. A fishpond, presumably Mediaeval, survives as an earthwork, and was drained circa 1800. (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1135732
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 194496.
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Castles 4 Kids
  Banwell History
Books
- Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 3 Southern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 673
  Woolgar, C.M., 1999, The Great Household in Late Medieval England (New Haven and London: Yale University Press) p. 10
  Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 170
  Ramsey, F.M.R. (ed), 1995, English Episcopal Acta X, Bath and Wells 1061-1205 (Oxford: University Press) p. xxiii
  Dunning, R., 1991, Some Somerset Country Houses p. 8
  Knowles, David and Hadcock, R Neville, 1971, Medieval religious houses in England and Wales (Longman) p467
  Hembry, P., 1967, The Bishops of Bath and Wells, 1540-1640 (London: The Athlone Press) p. 14, 112-3, 125
  Pevsner, N., 1958, Buildings of England: North Somerset and Bristol (London, Penguin)
  Bennett, G., n.d. c. 1825, A Historical and Topographical Account of the Parish of Banwell (Banwell: Society of Archaeology) p. xxvii
  Collinson, J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of the County of Somerset (Bath) Vol. 3 p. 567 online copy
Periodical Articles
- 1969, Search: the journal of the Banwell Society of Archaeology Vol. 9 p. XX-XXII
  Compton, T., 1905, Proceedings of the Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society Vol. 51 p. 31
  Levien, E., 1875, Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol. 31 p. 31 (slight) online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Harvey, J.H. (ed), 1969, William Worcestre: Itineraries (Oxford: Clarendon Press) p. 296-7
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Payne, Naomi, 2003, The medieval residences of the bishops of Bath and Wells, and Salisbury (PhD Thesis University of Bristol) p. 81-87 (available via EThOS)

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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