Buscot Park

Buscot Park is a country house built around 1780 for Edward Loveden Townsend. It was altered in the 1860s, extended in 1889, and significantly reconstructed between 1934 and 1936. While the first two phases of construction had no recorded architects, the 1889 extensions were designed by Sir Ernest George, whose partner, Harold Peto, was landscaping the grounds at the time. Geddes Hyslop directed the final phase of reconstruction, which sought to reinstate the restrained classical lines of the original 1780 design.

The house is constructed of finely jointed ashlar with a rusticated base, a dentil cornice, and a hipped slate roof punctuated by eastern, western, and ridge stone stacks. It has three storeys and an attic, with nine bays on the south front, which features two dormers. The central three bays of the south front project slightly and are topped with a pediment containing carved floral enrichment. A wide flight of steps leads to central glazed doors, with a cornice head at first-floor level. Modern sash windows with blind boxes are present throughout the house. The north front has three central bays flanked by segmental bows of three windows each, extending the full height of the building, with a total of seven dormer windows. Both the east and west fronts feature three-bay projections and pediments with lunettes.

The interiors were redesigned and redecorated during the 1934-6 reconstruction in a mixed neo-Classical style, incorporating original 18th-century chimney-pieces. A series of paintings entitled ‘The Briar Rose’ by Edward Burne-Jones was acquired by Alexander Henderson in 1890 and installed under the artist's direction within specially designed frames in the Saloon, where they remain.