The Hall

The Hall is a house built in 1855 by William Railton and substantially remodelled and extended between 1858 and 1871 by William Burges for the Reverend John Augustus Yatman. It is constructed of coursed and dressed limestone with ashlar dressings, later work incorporating buff, probably Ham Hill, dressings. The roofs are slated, with ashlar ridge and end stacks; the rear roofs combine Welsh and Westmoreland slate laid to create a striped polychromatic effect.

The building is planned as an L-shape with a rear left wing. It combines Italianate style with Gothic Revival extensions by Burges, and comprises two storeys. The south garden front displays a 2:2:3:2:2 fenestration pattern. Horned 2/2-pane sash windows are set in raised ashlar architraves. A central section of three windows is flanked by two-window gables with oculi. Steps lead to a pedimented doorway with swept lugs to the architrave and a sash extending to floor level that serves as the entry. The outer wings, which include work by Burges, have two-window fronts featuring ground-floor arcades with semi-circular arches and plain abaci to short central columns and imposts. A service wing to the left has a gable facing left of a three-window front and includes 6/6-pane sashes. A plain conservatory projects to the east. The rear elevation displays similar sashes, some of 6/6-panes, with architraves. A large flat-roofed porch with a half-glazed door, casements and a bracketed canopy is located at the rear. Burges's rear wing features a tall hipped roof and a four-window east front with similar architraves to tall above short casements. A segmental-arched doorway is positioned to the right. A pyramidal-roofed tower by Burges stands at the angle with the main range and displays polychromatic voussoirs to oculi above 2-light casements and to a semi-circular arch with richly-carved foliate capitals to columns and responds. The key of the arch bears the Yatman rebus and the date 1871.

The interior contains work by Railton including panelled shutters and doors in moulded architraves, moulded cornicing and marble fireplaces. The room to the centre of the main south range has a rococo-style marble fireplace and a fine painted neo-classical style ceiling with modillioned cornice. The room to the right has a rococo marble fireplace, moulded cornice and panelling with medallions. The hall to the rear of the centre features modillioned cornicing and consoles framing entries to end vestibules, with an open-well staircase having barley-sugar balusters. Stained glass by Burges is positioned to the right of the front.

A stable range stands to the rear, built of limestone ashlar and rubble with brick dressings to arches and pantile roofs, arranged around a courtyard. The elevations include ashlar door and casement window architraves, segmental brick arches to carriage entries, and a bellcote to the east range.

Reverend Yatman had retired from his Yorkshire curacy to become squire of Winscombe in 1855. William Railton, who designed the Nelson Memorial in Trafalgar Square, had designed a number of vaguely Italianate villas for the Ecclesiastical Commissioners between 1838 and 1848. Yatman's appointment of Burges, one of the most celebrated and "roguish" Victorian Gothic architects, represented a remarkable change of taste; Burges had earlier designed the east window in the Church of St James. The house remained in private occupation until 1982, after which much painted furniture by Burges was sold by auction, including the "Yatman cabinet", which is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum.