History

Medieval tower house of C14 to early C15 date. C15 house belonged to Perrot family. William Meares of Eastington (d1768) is commemorated in the church and there is said to have been a large house of the Meare family adjoining the Tower. This house was occupied by the Leach family in later C18 but mostly demolished by 1868, of which the present house may be the outbuildings.

Exterior

Tower house: Rubble stone, embattled, with vaulted ground floor and first-floor hall reached by added W side outside stairs. A narrower, possibly slightly later, rear wing has vaulted room on each floor and an embattled turret which crowns the stair in the re-entrant NW angle, leading from first floor to the wall walk behind the battlements. S front has corbelled embattled parapet, one first-floor later window and ground-floor (later) broad opening. Shallow angle buttresses. C20 lightweight roofs, and some repairs to stonework, otherwise unrestored. Marks of a lost SW gabled building, possibly indicating an earlier hall range. The original entry to the tower was from the W where a pointed arched doorway survives between the gable and the outside stairs. The stairs may have been originally in timber with an upper porch for which sockets remain. One blocked narrow lancet to first floor left and one blocked N end 2-light trefoil-headed opening part-blocked by rear wing.

Scheduled Ancient Monument Pe 263

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q17742437

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990