Hatch Court in the parish of Hatch Beauchamp, [1] in Somerset, England, is a grade I listed [2] mansion built in about 1755 in the Palladian style with Bath Stone by the wool merchant John Collins to the design of Thomas Prowse. The site had been occupied since the mediaeval era by various forms of the manor house of the manor of Hatch, the caput of an important feudal barony first held by the Anglo-Norman de Beauchamp family in the 11th century. [3]
John Collines was a wool merchant who built the house in about 1755. [4] He employed as his architect Thomas Prowse a Member of Parliament who designed houses for his friends and had previously designed the nearby Temple of Harmony [5] and had been consulted regarding the building of Hagley Hall in Worcestershire. [6]
The two-storey Bath stone building is in the Palladian style with four square angle towers each of three storeys. [7] The main entrance is via a loggia of five round-headed arches. [6] [8] The interior includes a large hall and a staircase with stone treads and wrought iron balusters. [6]
The gardens contain a walled vegetable garden. [9] [10] During the 18th century extensive pleasure gardens existed which included a grotto with a pool and fireplace. [11] [12]
The stable block was built in about 1820 following the demolition of the original stable block designed by Prowse. [13] At the same time a horse engine house was built as a horse mill to power farm machinery, since used for storage, but some of the original machinery including the drive shaft is still in situ. [14]
The gardens were restored by Dr Robin Odgers and his wife Janie, who occupied the house from 1984 to its sale in 2000. [15] There are listed, Grade II, on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England. [16]
The house once contained a small military museum commemorating the life and work of Brigadier Andrew Hamilton Gault, a decorated Boer War hero [17] who served as Member of Parliament for Taunton and as a member of the Quebec Chamber of Commerce. He was the founder of the last privately raised regiment in the British Empire, the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. [18] [19] Hamilton Gault was buried on the estate. [20] His wife continued to live at Hatch Court until 1972. [15]
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Hatch Beauchamp is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated 5 miles (8.0 km) south east of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village has a population of 620.
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Shepton Beauchamp is a village and civil parish, 1 mile (2 km) from Barrington and 4 miles (6 km) north east of Ilminster between the Blackdown Hills and the Somerset Levels in the South Somerset district of Somerset, England.
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North Perrott is a village and civil parish in the South Somerset district of the English county of Somerset.
John de Beauchamp, 2nd Baron Beauchamp of Somerset was an English peer and was feudal baron of Hatch in Somerset.
Earnshill House in Hambridge, near Curry Rivel, Somerset, England is a manor house, set in parkland. It was built in 1725 for Henry Combe, a Bristol merchant by John Strachan. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building.
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Taunton Deane was a local government district with borough status in Somerset, England. It merged with West Somerset to form Somerset West and Taunton on 1 April 2019. Its council was based in Taunton. The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, by a merger of the Municipal Borough of Taunton, Wellington Urban District, Taunton Rural District, and Wellington Rural District. Taunton Deane was granted borough status in 1975, enabling the mayoralty of Taunton to be continued, when other districts did not have mayors. The district was given the name of an alternate form of the Taunton Deane Hundred.
There are over 670 scheduled monuments in the ceremonial county of Somerset in South West England. The county consists of a non-metropolitan county, administered by Somerset County Council, which is divided into five districts, and two unitary authorities. The districts of Somerset are West Somerset, South Somerset, Taunton Deane, Mendip and Sedgemoor. The two administratively independent unitary authorities, which were established on 1 April 1996 following the breakup of the county of Avon, are North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset. These unitary authorities include areas that were once part of Somerset before the creation of Avon in 1974.
The feudal barony of Hatch Beauchamp or honour of Hatch Beauchamp was an English feudal barony with its caput at the manor of Hatch Beauchamp in Somerset. The site of the mediaeval manor house, to the immediate south of the ancient parish church of St John the Baptist, is today occupied by Hatch Court, a grade I listed mansion built in about 1755 in the Palladian style.
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