Listed Building record MDO13239 - Holditch Court Farmhouse, Holditch Court Lane, Thorncombe

Farmhouse, possibly formerly Gatehouse of about 1500 with major seventeenth century alterations. Rubble walls with stone quoins and dressings, and a tile and slate roof with brick stacks.

(ST 34490219) Holditch Court (NR)

(ST 34480215) Tower (NR) (1)

Holditch Court, built as a gate-house early in the 16th century and extended in the 17th century, is a two-storeyed, rubble and flint house with tiled roofs. It retains two of the original windows, and inside is an original doorway. The tower, situated south-east of the house, formed part of a semi-fortified manor house of late medieval date, and traces of a rectangular stone building can be seen 16 yards to the south-east. Immediately to the south are traces of a bank and scarp and of another bank, which may represent a defensive enclosure. The remains of a fishpond can be seen north-east of the house. (2-3)

The fishpond to the east of the house is now used as a duck-pond. The tower is in a ruinous state (see photograph) and the remains of the stone building 16 yards south-east of it have been obliterated. The banks and scarps to the south have been partly demolished and form no coherent pattern. (4)

Holditch Court. The tower is Grade I.

Holditch Court. The tower, of C15th date is listed Grade I.

Holditch Court Farmhouse, is circa 1500 with major C17th alterations and listed Grade II. (5-6)

Listed as a strong house by Cathcart King. (7)

<1> DOE (HRR), 1950, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest: Beaminster Rural District 1950, 38 (Scheduling record). SDO17358.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 247 (Monograph). SDO97.

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

(ST 34490219) Holditch Court (NR)

<4> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 421 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<5> Department of the Environment, 1983, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest: Dorset (Parishes of Bettiscombe, Marshwood and Thorncombe), 44 (Scheduling record). SDO16425.

<6> Cathcart-King, D J, 1983, Castellarium anglicanum: an index and bibliography of the castles in England, Wales and the islands, 130 (Monograph). SDO16340.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 191525 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Apr 4 2022 3:02PM