Byne House

Byne House is a large townhouse built in 1755 for John Wansey, a prominent local clothier. It is three storeys high with a basement and is constructed of coursed squared stone, set on a projecting plinth. Plain string courses run at the first and second floor levels, and the building has rusticated quoins. A moulded cornice, surmounted by a balustrade pierced near the corners and between the windows, tops the facade. The balustrade has a moulded stone coping, and the roof is slate-covered. The windows are glazing bar sash windows.

The second floor has three square windows. The first floor features two three-light windows flanking a central, large Palladian (Venetian) window. The Palladian window has Doric pilasters, an entablature, and an architrave to its central arch. The central light of this window has a "Gothic" interlacing glazing pattern. The ground floor has two windows similar to the outer first-floor type, and a tall, central six-panel door recessed within an architrave surround, highlighted by a triple keystone. A flat wooden hood with a panelled soffit and shaped pelmet edges shelters the door, which is approached by a double flight of five moulded stone steps with a later stone balustrade. Two tripartite basement windows are also present. All windows, except for the Palladian windows, have stone architrave surrounds. The house is set back from the road. A datestone is located in the north gable wall.

Inside, a good contemporary staircase has a spiral end to the handrail and enriched brackets beneath the string, although it is believed to be altered. A later 18th-century stair window has a traceried round arched head with internal pendants, a design which echoes a window found in the fanlight of St Boniface’s College. A fireplace in the front south ground-floor room is enriched with sphinxes in the central panel, while another marble fireplace is located on the first floor.

A later extension, dated 1800 by rainwater heads, was added to the south-east, constructed of Bath stone ashlar with a principal elevation to the east. It features a tripartite French casement window on the ground floor, featuring swags in the architrave, flanking piers, a Doric cornice, and a blocking course. A further blank extension in ashlar, with a band over the ground floor, is located to the south. A wall runs along the road in front of it, with a central ramped section (approximately 9 feet high) and a segmental headed recess for a ledged door.

The property is set within a large walled garden with a ha-ha to the east.