Scaplen’s Court dates from late 15th or 16th century and is thought to be on the site of an L-shaped medieval quayside merchant’s house and was extended early in the Tudor period into the quadrangle shape with new doorways, fireplaces and ceilings, many of which still survive today.

By the 17th century, the Purbeck and Bath stone building housed an alehouse, the George Inn, having ‘two stables, gardens, outhouses, cellars, courts, edifices and buildings’.

Marks of history

In the 1640’s Scaplen’s Court was occupied by the Parliamentarian Roundheads during the English Civil War against Charles I.

It is believed that some of these soldiers left their mark on the building by graffitiing the stonework around the fireplace upstairs with their initials.

From tenements to treasure

By the mid-18th century, the building was divided into three tenements, involving the conversion of the roof space into attic rooms and the remaining beam holes can still be seen today. One of the residents was John Scaplen, a joiner and cabinet maker, who's name is associated with the building today!

The property was still owned by the Skutt family and had been updated with red brick, sash windows, smaller fireplaces and Georgian wooden panelled doors and surrounds.

Rediscovered splendour

The house was badly damaged by a storm in 1923 with a large chimney stack falling through the roof. The year after, local historian H.P. Smith was given access to the building and discovered the original building:

‘When the partitions which had divided one room from another had been removed…we found ourselves in a hall forty feet long and twenty four feet wide… and when we had removed a brick chimney piece we found ourselves looking at a fairly well preserved Gothic doorway, 7 feet high and 3 feet 6 inches wide’.

How to get here

Scaplen's Court & Garden is open to the public, with The Salt Pig serving refreshments throughout the day. The address of this site is: 1 Sarum Street, BH15 1JW 

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