The George Inn, Norton St Philip, Somerset

Abstract

A survey of the George Inn, with some references to the medieval cloth and wool trade, and an interpretation of the architectural evidence to show the various stages of building, the existing structure being of the late fourteenth century overlaid with many subsequent alterations. The upper floors were given their present jettied front c. 1500 when the building was extensively remodelled. The George was used both as an Inn and for storing and selling cloth at two important annual fairs held by the owners of the manor, the Carthusian Priory of Hinton Charterhouse. The George Inn stands on the south side of the former market place (called the Plain) in the centre of Norton St Philip, a small stone-built market town a few miles north-east of the Mendip Hills (ST 775 560). Norton lies on the route from Salisbury to Bristol and owes its former prosperity to the wool and cloth trade. The George itself is by far the largest secular building in the town and stands three storeys high, head and shoulders above its neighbours, at the cross-roads.