Ven House

A hamlet of Ven or Fenn existed in the mid-thirteenth century. By the sixteenth century the manor belonged to the Carent family, who sold it to Sir Edward Carteret in 1679. When Sir Edward died, his son, Sir Charles Carteret, mortgaged the property to the Londoner Thomas Medlycott and subsequently sold it to Thomas' brother, James.(Victoria County History, Somerset, 1999) Construction of a smaller William and Mary style house, was completed in 1698–1700; the house was enlarged around 1725–30 for James Medlycott by Nathaniel Ireson, who retained the west front of the earlier house. It stands on an artificially raised terrace, and is surrounded by grounds that were laid out at the time by…

The house, which has a rectangular plan of 7 bays by 5 bays, is built of red brick in Flemish bond, with local Ham stone dressings. The north and south fronts are divided by two giant Corinthian pilasters, placed to suggest a central block of three bays. The roof is hipped with Welsh slate behind balustraded parapets. and north east pavilions. Along the south side of the house is a terrace balustraded to match the house. When the house was first built the main entrance gateway was some 400 m to the north of the house and linked East Street and The Old Road (Dorset), In the 19th century this was superseded by London Road, which split much of the parkland from the house, The 1836 building…