Newington House

Newington House is a country house dating back to approximately 1635, originally built for Walter Dunch. It was altered around 1680 for Henry Dunch and remodelled in 1777 for George White. The house is constructed of coursed squared limestone rubble with ashlar dressings, and has a Welsh-slate roof with stone stacks. It follows a double-pile plan.

The symmetrical front elevation has seven windows and features rusticated quoins, a moulded first-floor storey band, a cornice below the top storey, and a central doorway with a late 18th-century Corinthian porch, stone bolection doorcase, and an eight-panel double-leaf door. Windows have moulded stone architraves and 12-pane sashes, except for those in the basement, which have rectangular stone mullions. The garden front is similar but without the porch, and the door architrave matches the windows. Evidence remains of demolished segmental pediments above both front and rear entrances. The double-span hipped roofs are concealed by plain parapets.

A single-storey service wing from the late 18th century is located to the right of the main range, featuring two large Diocletian windows at the rear. Rainwater heads on the main range are inscribed "GW 1777".

Original interior features include the basement, with stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops and the remains of a large fireplace with chamfered stone jambs. At ground floor, a timber-framed partition, previously the wall of a closet, has studs flush with the plaster and retains painted skirting. A built-in doorcase between the stair hall and the saloon may also be original. The three main rooms at the rear and the stair hall have good late 18th-century marble fireplaces and plaster cornices. The panelled saloon has fluting and medallions on the doorcases and cornice, mirroring the porch decoration, and the hall features a deep triglyph frieze and mutule cornice with a triangular pediment to the saloon doorcase. The open-well stair has cantilevered oak treads and a ramped, wreathed handrail. The roof dates from the addition of the second floor in 1777, but it retains timbers from the roof of approximately 1680, including surviving tie beams. The roof originally had a central platform and was replaced with a lower pitch. An elaborate system of drainage tunnels surrounds the basement. The front window spacing, in overlapping triplets, and certain plan details bear a resemblance to Rubens' engravings of the Pallavicini Palace in Genoa (published 1622), reflecting a familial connection between the Dunch family and the Pallavicini family.