Dunsmore House

Dunsmore House is a large house, now a nursing home, dated 1881 and built for Sir Joseph Muntz. It is constructed of snecked rock-faced stone with ashlar dressings, and has a red tile roof. The house is two storeys and has an attic. It comprises an elongated range with principal rooms at the east end, an axial corridor with rooms leading off on each side, and a service courtyard at the west end enclosed by single-storey buildings. The architectural style is Tudor-Gothic Revival, featuring various carved details. Elements include quoins, a plinth, a continuous hoodmould and string course between floors, moulded eaves, and multiple-flue stacks with truncated octagonal shafts.

The entrance front features a buttressed, single-storey porch with a Tudor-arched door and a small window to the right, topped by a parapet. To the right of the porch is a large six-light stair-window with shields and carved vine-trail detailing on mid-height panels which step up to the left, featuring traceried transom lights and a moulded architrave. Above this is a broad gable with a transomed three-light window, and above the porch a traceried two-light window and a gabled dormer with apron shields to the three-light window. To the left of the porch, a cusped four-light window sits beneath a heraldic plaque bearing a date and a hoodmould with lozenge stops. A diagonal two-storey bay window, of three by one lights, occupies the left corner. To the right of the main staircase window, a five-bay recess has irregular window placement, including a secondary staircase window, two dormers, and a gabled projection on the right.

The garden front has approximately seven bays, with gabled projections to bays one and four, and another to bay seven featuring a two-storey bay window of five by one lights with shields on the parapet. The left return includes a single-storey curved bay window to the left of a projecting stack. Another stack to the right is flanked by diagonal bay windows, visible from the front. The right return is characterised by bastions flanking a segmental archway with a continuous hoodmould and finial under a gablet, leading to a service courtyard within.

The interior features an impressive stair-hall with oak dado panelling, pilasters, and a Gothic-style staircase, along with a panelled ceiling. A three-bay wooden colonnade on the landing has been infilled, and there is pierced coving. There are fielded six-panel doors with architraves and pediments. A sitting room, also in a similar style, has diagonal bay windows flanking a heavily carved wooden fireplace in the 17th century style.