Minterne Magna House

Minterne Magna House is a country house constructed between 1904 and 1906 by Leonard Stokes for Lord Digby. It is a building of group value. The walls are of squared, coursed, and dressed rubble with ashlar detailing, using Ham Hill stone throughout. The roof is stone-slated with stone copings and ashlar stacks in varying positions. The architectural style is a free and eclectic mix, with the exterior predominantly reflecting 'Perpendicular' Gothic and 'Jacobethan' influences, while the interior demonstrates baroque and 'Adamesque' characteristics.

The house is planned with a two-story main hall leading from a vestibule, with further rooms accessed via spine corridors on both floors. Servants' wings, now converted into flats, extend to the west and north. A billiard room is set at an angle to the main range to the southwest. A four-story tower is located on the east side. The main range is largely two stories in height with attics.

The south front is symmetrical, comprising 11 bays plus the billiard room wing. It features three two-story canted bays with two stone gables between, incorporating rustication and pilasters. Windows are predominantly stone, mullioned and transomed, with a central round-headed doorway featuring a keystone and a bulls-eye window above. A moulded cornice bears carvings, topped by an embattled parapet.

The north front takes the form of a U-plan with a central porch. It showcases plain ashlar and rusticated pilasters. A two-story hall window, to the left of the porch, has three lights with 'Perpendicular' tracery under square heads. A similar first-floor window is positioned above the porch. Other windows are stone mullioned and transomed, set under square heads with labels; round porch hoods; and an embattled parapet with a cornice below.

The east facade displays similar mullioned fenestration, alongside a two-story bow window, with a tower flanked by capped, fluted pilasters.

Internally, the hall exhibits a baroque style, notable for its barrel-vaulted roof, coupled Ionic pilasters, a carved wooden gallery, and an elaborately carved chimney piece in marble with side-scrolls. The chimney piece was originally intended for Eaton Hall. A tapestry room, designed to accommodate tapestries by Judocus de Vos, contains a reset allegorical ceiling painting reportedly by Thornhill, and a reset 18th-century fireplace with a key-pattern inlay. Other rooms are decorated with baroque and ‘Adamesque’ features, including reset 18th-century chimney pieces.