ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes what is known of the vernacular architecture of Shapwick. The text and figures are derived largely from a previously published account with additional detail taken from contributions to the Shapwick Project reports. The architectural detail of the house and buildings, in particular the elliptical arched doorway to the trap-house and the four-centred archway to the barn doorways, suggests 1860 build. A few of the better quality houses have good early internal timber work there is little architectural embellishment at Shapwick except in the manor houses. There are no early stone details in any of the houses, due principally to the absence of local freestone. The one exception is the fine early-16th-century stone fireplace in Forsters, the oldest of the village houses and the only one to have escaped improvement. The walls of all the Shapwick houses are of Blue Lias stone, a fine-grained and extremely heavy limestone.
