{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox historic site | name =Barrow Court | native_name = | native_language = | image =Barrow Court 2.JPG | caption = | locmapin =Somerset | coordinates = {{coord|51|24|41|N|2|41|50|W|display=inline,title}} | location =Barrow Gurney, Somerset, England | area = | built = | architect = | architecture = | governing_body = | owner = | designation1 =Grade II* listed building | designation1_offname = | designation1_date =13 October 1952<ref name=nhle/> | designation1_number =1311901 | designation2 = | designation2_offname = | designation2_date = | designation2_number = }}
'''Barrow Court''' is a manor house in Barrow Gurney, Somerset, England. The site was originally Barrow Gurney Nunnery and was rebuilt in the 16th and 19th centuries. It has been designated as a Grade II* listed building.<ref name=nhle>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1311901 |desc=Barrow Court|accessdate=7 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Barrow Court |url=http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=197963 |work=Pastscape |publisher=English Heritage |accessdate=16 September 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016030126/http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=197963 |archivedate=16 October 2013 |df=dmy }}</ref>
==History==
The Benedictine nunnery was founded in 1212 by one of the Fitz-Hardinges (or Fitzhardinge), who had been granted the Lordship of the Manor by William Rufus.<ref name="bho">{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=40924 |title=Houses of Benedictine nuns: The priory of Barrow Gurney |editor=William Page |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |year=1911 |work=A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 2 |accessdate=16 September 2013 }}</ref><ref name=reggarden>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1000562 |desc=Barrow Court|accessdate=4 April 2015}}</ref> After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536 the area and buildings were granted by Henry VIII to John Drew, of Bristol, who converted it into a private mansion, renamed Barrow Court.<ref name=reggarden/> The house is closely attached to the original priory Church of St Mary And St Edward.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1311925 |desc=Church of St Mary and St Edward|accessdate=7 July 2015}}</ref>
The original building was converted into a country house in around 1538, largely rebuilt in 1545, and further altered and extended in around 1602 by its owner Dr Francis James into its current E shape, which is the oldest part to survive.<ref name=nhle/> It was sold in 1659 to William Gore, in whose family it was passed down until 1881 when it was bought by Anthony Gibbs, son of William Gibbs of Tyntesfield, who sold it to his brother Henry Martin Gibbs. He largely rebuilt the Jacobean house and the church.<ref name=reggarden/>
During the Second World War it was used as a military hospital. It became a college of education from 1949 to 1976 but remained in the Gibbs family ownership until they sold it in 1976. It was then divided into several separate dwellings.<ref name=reggarden/>
On the west of the main house is a tithe barn that dates from the 14th century but has now been turned into a house.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1129208 |desc=Tithe Barn at Barrow Court |accessdate=7 July 2015}}</ref>
==Gardens== thumb|left|Gatepiers, gates and series of twelve pillars known as the ''twelve months of the year'' The house is surrounded by {{convert|6|ha}} of formal gardens and a more extensive area, around {{convert|60|ha}}, of parkland, which held a medieval deer park. In 1890 Inigo Thomas carried out extensive work.<ref>{{cite web|title=Barrow Court, Barrow Gurney, England|url=http://www.parksandgardens.org/places-and-people/site/294/history|work=Parks and Gardens UK|publisher=Parks and Gardens Data Services Ltd|accessdate=16 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928135331/http://www.parksandgardens.org/places-and-people/site/294/history|archive-date=28 September 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> building gazebos, a balustraded garden wall<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1129169 |desc=East and west corner Gazebos and linking north Boundary Wall of formal garden at Barrow Court|accessdate=7 July 2015}}</ref> and walled courts.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1320932 |desc=East and West Courts and linking south Boundary Wall of formal garden at Barrow Court|accessdate=7 July 2015}}</ref> In 1890 he added a set of gates and a wall with twelve pillars known as the ''twelve months of the year''.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1129171 |desc=Gatepiers, Gates and series of 12 Pillars forming west boundary wall of formal garden at Barrow Court|accessdate=7 July 2015}}</ref> They support sculptures by Alfred Drury representing the "daughters of the year", with January being a young girl at the northern end along to an elderly matriarch representing December at the south, each with flowers suitable to the particular month.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bond|first=James|title=Somerset Parks and Gardens|year=1998|publisher=Somerset Books|isbn=0861834658|page=116}}</ref>
The lily pond with its accompanying pedestals and urns date from the same time,<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1129172 |desc=Lily Pond and 2 ornamental Pedestals with Urns each 20 metres either side of pond in rose garden at Barrow Court|accessdate=7 July 2015}}</ref> along with other ornamental steps, walls, vases, a sundial,<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1129173 |desc=Steps, Walls, ornamental Vases and Sundial forming junction between rose garden and north lawn at Barrow Court|accessdate=7 July 2015}}</ref> and a mock temple.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1129170 |desc=Temple, Exedra and linking east Boundary Wall of formal garden at Barrow Court|accessdate=7 July 2015}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist |colwidth=30em}}
Category:Grade II* listed buildings in North Somerset Category:Grade II* listed houses in Somerset Category:Houses in Somerset Category:Jacobean architecture in the United Kingdom