{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Infobox historic site | name =Coker Court | native_name = | image =Coker Court.jpg | caption = | locmapin = Somerset | map_caption = | coordinates = {{coord|50|54|25|N|2|39|33|W|display=inline,title}} | location =[[East Coker]], [[Somerset]], England | area = | built =15th century | architect = | architecture = | governing_body = | designation1 =Grade I Listed Building | designation1_offname = Coker Court | designation1_date =19 April 1961<ref name="IoE"/> | designation1_number = 1057176 | designation2 = | designation2_offname = | designation2_date = | designation2_number = }}
'''Coker Court''' is a substantial manor house in [[East Coker]], [[Somerset]], England. It was built in the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries and has been designated as a Grade I [[listed building]].<ref name="IoE">{{cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1057176|title=Coker Court|work=historicengland.org.uk|publisher=English Heritage|accessdate=6 July 2009}}</ref> It was erected by the Courtney family who were lords of the manor and rectors of the adjacent parish church. The building is constructed from locally quarried [[Hamstone]] with roofs composed of stone tiles.
==History== The Courtney family were lords of the manor in the 14th and 15th centuries and appointed the rectors of the adjacent [[St Michael and All Angels' Church, East Coker|St Michael and All Angels' Church]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dunning|first1=Robert|title=Fifty Somerset Churches|date=1996|publisher=Somerset Books|isbn=978-0861833092|pages=139–142}}</ref> They built the present building, on the site of an earlier house during the early part of the 15th century. In 1616 it was bought by archdeacon Helyar who added to the structure of the building.<ref>{{cite book|last=Emery|first=Anthony|title=Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 1300-1500: Southern England|url=https://archive.org/details/greatermedievalh00emer|url-access=limited|year=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/greatermedievalh00emer/page/n533 516]–518|isbn=9780521581325}}</ref> [[William Helyar]] supported the king during the [[English Civil War]].<ref>{{cite web|title=East Coker|url=http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/EastCoker/|publisher=GENUKI|accessdate=18 September 2011}}</ref> His grandson, another William Helyar, was [[Somerset (UK Parliament constituency)|Member of Parliament for Somerset]] in 1715. The Helyar family owned sugar plantations in [[Jamaica]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Evans|first=Roger|title=Somerset and slavery|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/somerset/content/articles/2007/02/19/abolition_somerset_and_slavery_feature.shtml|publisher=BBC|access-date=18 September 2011}}</ref>
The MPs grandson, another William Helyar (died 1820; pictured), commissioned architect [[Joseph Dixon (architect)|Joseph Dixon]] to design a new wing for the Court, in 1766.<ref name="PMC">{{cite web |title=Portrait of William Helyar of Coker Court, Somerset |url=https://philipmould.com/browse-art/old-masters/18th-century/william-helyar-beach |publisher=[[Philip Mould & Company]] |accessdate=1 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501184450/https://philipmould.com/browse-art/old-masters/18th-century/william-helyar-beach |archive-date=1 May 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The 18th-century portion was built by [[William Chambers (architect)|Sir William Chambers]]. The house is now divided into several properties.<ref name="IoE"/>
==Architecture==
[[File:Portrait of William Helyar (d.1820), holding a design for the Georgian wing of Coker Court, Somerset - c.1768 - Thomas Beach.jpg|thumb|upright|''Portrait of William Helyar (died 1820), holding a design for the Georgian wing of Coker Court, Somerset'' by [[Thomas Beach (painter)|Thomas Beach]], circa 1768 ]]
Coker Court is a manor house, constructed in the fifteenth century and now divided into several units. Major additions were made in the eighteenth century and further extensions in around 1900. The house is constructed of locally quarried [[Hamstone]] rubble with ashlar dressings, with roofs of stone tiles between coped gables. The extension is rendered and has a hipped roof. The chimney stacks are of stone, some of them rendered. The north front is the earliest part of the building, and has seven bays. The east front is the eighteenth-century structure and also has seven bays. To the south and west is the four-bay extension erected around 1900 as servants quarters, and now a separate dwelling house.<ref name=BLB>{{cite web |url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-263665-coker-court-east-coker-somerset#.V8ft1K3GD6g |title=Coker Court, East Coker |publisher=British Listed Buildings |access-date=1 September 2016}}</ref>
On the north front, bay 1 is the end of the eighteenth century addition and has a blind Venetian window while bay 2 has an [[oriel window]], the two arched windows having tracery and diamond leaded panes. Bay 2 is separated from bay 3 by an angled buttress, and further full height buttresses separate bays 3, 4 and 5, which each have similar windows. Bay 6 has a projecting porch and is separated from bay 7 by another buttress. Bay 7 has twentieth century [[mullion]]ed windows. The interior of the house has some interesting features including Chinese wallpaper and lacquerwork in some upstairs rooms. The house is a Grade I [[listed building]], and the listing particulars state that it is "A very fine example in which either major portion would merit the high grading".<ref name=BLB/>
==Film== Part of the 1996 film ''[[Emma (1996 theatrical film)|Emma]]'', based on the [[Emma (novel)|novel of the same name]] by [[Jane Austen]], was shot on location at Coker Court.<ref>{{cite web|title=Emma|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116191/locations|publisher=IMDb|accessdate=18 September 2011}}</ref>
==See also==
[[File:HelyarArms.png|thumb|upright=0.5|Arms of Helyar: ''Azure, a cross flory argent between four mullets pierced or''<ref>[[John Burke (genealogist)|Burke's]] Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 15th Edition, ed. Pirie-Gordon, H., London, 1937, p.1089</ref>]]
* [[List of Grade I listed buildings in South Somerset]]
==References== {{Commons category}} {{reflist|30em}}
[[Category:Houses completed in the 15th century]] [[Category:Grade I listed buildings in South Somerset]] [[Category:Grade I listed houses in Somerset]] [[Category:Hamstone buildings]]