Kilver Court is a historic house and gardens in

Shepton Mallet Shepton Mallet is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Somerset, England, some southwest of Bath, Somerset, Bath, south of Bristol and east of Wells, Somerset, Wells. It had an estimated population of 10,810 in 2019. ...

in the English county of

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

. The River Sheppey powered textile mills and it later became a factory, the headquarters of the Showerings brewing business (later part of

Allied Domecq Allied Domecq PLC was a multinational company, headquartered in Bristol, United Kingdom, that operated spirits, wine, and quick service restaurant businesses. It was once a FTSE 100 Index constituent and the world's second-largest spirits gro ...

), and then the headquarters of a leather-goods manufacturer,

Mulberry ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of 19 species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 subordinat ...

. It is now used as a shopping centre.

History

Numbers 26, 26B and 27 Kilver street was a country house built around 1650 and since converted into offices and shops. They form a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. It was originally owned by the Whiting family which included Richard Whiting, who used it as their country house close to the mills used in woollen manufacturing, later converting to silk throwers and then

lace Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is split into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted o ...

production The 19th century

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot (Scots Language, Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house Domestic pigeon, pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or b ...

, known as the "Round House" and its adjacent gate piers and gates are also listed. Over the course of the 20th century the site has been a factory, the headquarters of the Showerings brewing business (later part of

), and then the headquarters of a leather-goods manufacturer,

. It has been used as a venue for the Shepton Mallet Digital Arts Festival.

Gardens

The gardens are overlooked by the disused Charlton Viaduct as it crosses the River Sheppey. They were laid out in the 1880s by Ernest Jardine, the Member of Parliament for East Somerset, 1910 to 1918, for his lace workers. He used the old mill ponds as boating lakes; and also built a pub and schoolhouse. They became known as Jardine’s Park and included fruit and vegetable plots which provided food for the workers. The current layout is a reproduction of a 1960s Chelsea Flower Show medal winning garden designed by George Whitelegg and includes a

rockery A rock garden, also known as a rockery and formerly as a rockwork, is a garden, or more often a part of a garden, with a landscaping framework of rocks, stones, and gravel, with planting appropriate to this setting. Usually these are small ...

and

parterre A ''parterre'' is a part of a formal garden constructed on a level substrate, consisting of symmetrical patterns, made up by plant beds, plats, low hedges or coloured gravels, which are separated and connected by paths. Typically it was the ...

. The area adjacent to the river includes

hosta ''Hosta'' (, synonym (taxonomy), syn. ''Funkia'') is a genus of plants commonly known as hostas, plantain lilies and occasionally by the Japanese name gibōshi. Hostas are widely cultivated as shade-tolerant foliage plants. The genus is placed ...

s, day lilies and candelabra primulas.

Shopping

In 2010 the buildings were converted into a designer outlet by Roger Saul the founder of

. The stores include: Mulberry,

L.K.Bennett LK Bennett is a luxury fashion brand, based in London, United Kingdom. The company sells ready-to-wear collections incorporating clothing, shoes, handbags and accessories. History Linda Bennett set up the first LK Bennett shop in Wimbledon Vil ...

and Whistles. Following the challenges of Covid-19, Saul decided in 2021 to sell the business, and Kilver Court was bought by the Showerings family which had originally owned the site.

References

External links

Kilver Court Designer Village
{{Shopping centres in Southwest England Companies based in Somerset Shopping centres in Somerset Grade II listed buildings in Mendip District Gardens in Somerset