Eastington Hall And Barn To North West

Eastington Hall and Barn to North West

A substantial manor house of exceptional architectural interest, apparently dating from the late 13th century and evolving through several major phases of development. The building comprises timber-frame and plaster panels with some red brick panels and blue lias coursed rubble, under plain tile roofs. It now forms an open court plan following a major restoration and doubling in size between 1911 and 1914.

The complex arrangement comprises a principal range facing north, a long rear wing running south from the west end, and a converted barn attached at the north west corner. The principal range is two storeys high. The north front features a large 16th-century brick stack with stone base and shoulders, with a window in its base, followed by a large projecting double gabled porch of around 1500 with a hipped roof and an adjoining gabled crosswing. Both porch and wing are close-studded timber-frame, with the porch incorporating some middle rails. Both are jettied at first floor level, with the wing having a jettied gable.

The ground floor displays exceptional carved work. Moulded posts carry brackets with carved spandrels positioned on each side of the wing, on each side of the doorway, and under a corner dragon beam. The carvings feature foliage and rose motifs together with three carved figures. The doorway itself has a Tudor arched opening with fine mask carvings in the spandrels. The wing features a square 12-light mullion and transom bay window with a moulded bressumer above. The first floor of the porch contains a 6-light mullion and transom window set directly over the doorway. The wing has a 10-light oriel with coved base and carved end brackets. Coving extends above to the upper jetty, with carved Tudor arch pieces to left and right of the oriel linking to carved corner pendants. The bargeboards are plain. Within the porch is a heavy oak door in a pointed arched surround made of two massive oak pieces.

An original east wall chimney to the left of the wing is now encased by the 1911-14 addition. To the right of the main chimney stack are two gables, both largely or entirely rebuilt but documented in photographs from 1907. The inner gable projects with carved bargeboards, a jettied first floor with carved posts and brackets to the ground floor, a brick base, a 12-light ground floor window, and a 4-light upper window. The outer gable is larger and set back, featuring a brick ground floor, a bressumer on small stone corbels, a close-studded first floor, and carved bargeboards.

An early 20th-century short link block connects the house to a square framed 17th-century barn at the north west angle. The barn has an inserted floor, early 20th-century openings, and a large added outside stack on the west wall.

The rear west range includes a 1911-14 gable and a link to the barn with blue lias stone below timber-frame at the left end. Most of the west front is close-studded and plaster-panelled, with a rebuilt large outside range and smaller windows. The right end is a crosswing gabled to west and east, featuring tension braces and red brick panels in the south wall, with blue lias stone at ground floor level.

The 1911-14 additions on the north front, to the left of the original range, comprise two large gables: one with a stone ground floor, first floor oriel and jettied gable, the other wholly timber-framed. A single window range lies between the two gables, with plaster panels. To the left is a blue lias stone range gable-ended to the east. The east side comprises a service range, mostly of blue lias stone with two gabled bays, a circular turret with stone tiled roof, and a large outside stack, with the left end being timber-framed and plastered. The entire south courtyard is timber-frame and plaster dating from 1911-14. The centre range has a large projecting gable over an open ground floor, with a further open loggia to the left comprising timber posts and a blue lias stone rear wall. The angle to the west wing has a three-sided first floor window with a gable over. Two gables appear on the west side, one being a much renewed gable end of the original rear wing crosswing. To the right of the central gable is blue lias stone at ground floor with timber-frame above. The east wing has a projecting gable, large ridge stack, and a south end gable copying the detail of the circa 1500 north front gable.

Interior: The hall retains two base cruck trusses with collar and scissor rafter roof above, dated by F.W.B. Charles to circa 1280. A 15th-century spere truss and screen also survive. The ground floor room of the wing adjoining the porch features fine circa 1500 moulded beams and a stone fireplace with moulded and curved-out jambs terminating in carved heads.

Historical context: The house belonged to the Eastington family from the 13th to 15th centuries, then passed to William Bridges, who died in 1523. Radclyffe Hall wrote part of 'The Well of Loneliness' here around 1920.