The Hyde

The Hyde is a large country house dated 1853 over the door and around 1923. It is constructed of ashlar limestone, although the service wing has a rendered finish, with slate roofs. The main block is compact, featuring a central, full-height projecting porch facing west, and a lower service wing projecting to the right, which was rebuilt around 1923. The house has two storeys and attics, exhibiting careful detailing in the Tudor style, with stone mullioned and transomed windows, string courses, and saddle-back coped parapets and gables.

The entrance front is symmetrical, with a 2:1:2 window arrangement rising to half-gables at the outer bays and full gables flanking the centrally located, gabled porch. The porch features diagonal buttresses and a Tudor doorway with a pediment gable above. The right return includes a one-storey canted bay with a perforated parapet, a three-light window above, and a two-light window to the gable. A further gable is set back, alongside the large service wing to the right. The left return has canted bays, one extending through two storeys and another through one storey.

The roofscape is complex, with very lofty octagonal chimneys in detached shafts, grouped in sets of two, three, and four. The lower service wing is simpler in detail. The drawing room has an Adam style design, while the dining room is ornate Jacobean, featuring a large buffet and walls with Russian stamped and gilt leather. The house holds historical significance as the former residence of the Gundry family, founders of the Bridport rope and net works in the 17th century.