King John's Hunting Lodge

Despite its name, King John's Hunting Lodge has nothing to do with the king, who died in 1216, long before it was built: it is an early Tudor timber-framed wool merchant's house of around 1500, its three storeys jettied out over a corner of The Square in Axbridge. The name may come from a carved king's head displayed when The King's Head Inn occupied part of the premises; the original carving is now kept inside. Miss Ripley, who bought the house in 1930, bequeathed it to the National Trust in 1971, and during restoration the Trust recreated the arcaded stalls that open onto the street on the ground floor. The Trust does not run it: the house is leased to Axbridge and District Museum Trust, which operates it as a free local history museum covering the area from Neolithic times to the Second World War. Reviewers say it is bigger inside than it looks and packed with local history. The upper floors are reached by the original oak staircase of 27 steps.