Herringston House

Herringston House is a manor house set in grounds at Winterborne Herringston. The building originates as a 14th-century courtyard house, of which the north range and the northern portions of the east and west ranges were demolished in the early 19th century. The house was remodelled or partly rebuilt in the late 16th century, and a Great Chamber was created in the early 17th century. Early 19th-century remodelling of the north side was carried out by Thomas Leverton, and the present entrance hall was created at this time. A porch was added to the north front in the late 19th century. In 1899, a substantial new wing was added on the east side of the house, and a conservatory and outbuildings were added on the west.

The walls are constructed of stone, rendered in cement. The roof is hipped and gabled, covered in slate, with rendered stacks.

The north front has two-storey gabled wings with ranges truncated by Leverton. The centre rises to three storeys and is crowned with an embattled parapet. The fenestration is arranged as one window, three windows, and one window. Leverton's central section features tripartite sashes with glazing bars that intersect at the head. The windows over the porch are single sashes, also with intersecting glazing bars. All windows have separate returned labels. The glass is crown glass. The gabled wings contain three-light sashes with intersecting glazing bars, set in shallow recesses with two centred heads; quatrefoiled panels appear between the upper and lower windows. The central gabled porch has a pointed arch doorway with a separate returned label and a wooden door displaying a coat of arms over it. The inner two-leaf door is glazed and dates to the 19th century.

The south front is two storeys with irregular fenestration. The upper windows are 16th-century work with elliptical-headed lights, moulded jambs and heads, and labels. The projection containing the Great Chamber has 19th-century buttresses between which are two ground floor windows, each of two elliptical-headed lights with moulded jambs and mullions, and a third window with plain chamfered jambs. The window above, serving the Great Chamber, has moulded jambs and mullions and comprises twelve lights with four-centred heads, divided into four groups of three by a transom and heavy central mullion. Similar windows appear on the returns. The eaves level was raised over the Hall by Leverton. Hall windows have two ranges of four elliptical-headed lights divided by a transom, set under a common label. West of this are early 18th-century sash windows to the drawing room and bedroom above, with plain stone architraves. A range in Portland ashlar and Ham stone dressings was attached at the south-east in 1899, with slate roofs and Ham stone gable copings. Two stacks stand on the ridge. This section is two and a half storeys with four windows and a projecting gabled central bay. Most windows are two-light wood casements with diagonal glazing bar patterns. In the central bay, windows contain four, four, and three lights respectively, with separate returned labels. A plank door stands at the right-hand end.

The interior features a hall rising through two storeys, with an archway to the north-west having a round arched head with keystone, imposts, and moulded jambs finished with chamfered plinths. Above the 19th-century east doorway to the hall is a similar arched opening to the first floor landing, with a stone balustrade within the archway. The lower parts of the walls are lined with 19th-century panelling incorporating reused pieces of 16th and 17th-century work. The drawing room to the west is lined with bolection-moulded panelling of the early 18th century. The large dining room contains an early 19th-century fireplace surround with enriched mouldings and drapery flowing from a female head. The staircase has 19th-century stone steps.

The Great Chamber contains carved panelling, an elaborate fireplace surround, and a decorated plaster barrel-vaulted ceiling, all of early 17th-century date. The plasterwork and panelling of the Great Chamber are of particular importance.

The manor has been in the continuous ownership of the Williams family since 1513.