North-east view of Orchard House, from a watercolour by J. C. Buckler, 1832.

Sir William Portman (c.1498-1557) demanding a house equal to his new status of Chief Justice in 1555, built a great house at Orchard Portman. It stood on a gently sloping site west of the Parish Church, and showed beyond doubt that the Portmans had shaken off all trace of their more modest past. Source: Orchard and the Portmans by T. W. Mayberry, 1986