MSO7936 - Porlock Golf Club Clubhouse (Building)

SS 8828 4795. The remains of a building - formerly the clubhouse of Porlock Golf Club. Built on the top of a shingle bank the remains of a rectangular building of shingle and mortar construction are 9.7 metres north to south by 4.7 metres internally within walls 0.5 metres thick. It has utilised a field wall as its western side. Only this wall and the north and south walls (each still standing about 2m high) remain. The east side is not visible, however its foundations may be hidden beneath the shingle. The entrance, 1.1 metres wide with sides revetted with bricks, is at the south end of the west wall. This building appears to have utilised walls shown originally on the 1903 Ordnance Survey map [1]. According to Corner this was, for a short time, the clubhouse of the Porlock Golf Links opened in August 1910. It was a nine hole course and it was planned to increase it to 18 holes but that autumn the high tides washed away most of the course. There was a clubhouse in the village but players could leave their clubs at this building on the links under the care of a professional [2]. Published survey 1:2500 [3] correct. [4] The boundary that the structure abuts defines part of the boundary between the Blathwayt and Holnicote estates. The structure is described as surviving to a height of approximately three metres. [5] A post-medieval stone ruined building was mapped from aerial photographs taken in 1941. The ruined building, centred at SS 8828 4795, consists of three remaining walls, about 10 metres north to south and 4.9 metres east to west. The eastern wall is not visible but the long west wall is incorporated into a field boundary wall which runs north-north-west to south-south-east from the beach to Butchers Plantation. The building was still extant in aerial photographs taken in 1999. [6-9] The ruins of a small mortared stone building constructed from beach cobbles (some faced) with brick details. It is approximately 10 metres by 4.2 metres and built on top of a broad stone wall which runs up from the beach. [10] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [11] The northern and southern walls of the building are partially shown abutting the boundary to the west on the 2022 MasterMap data. [12]