Corsham Court

Corsham Court is a country house of grade I importance, originally built in 1582 for T. Smythe and substantially enlarged and remodelled over the following three centuries. The house is constructed in ashlar with stone tiled roofs and comprises a basement and two-and-a-half storeys.

The main south front, dating from 1582, features a recessed 3-bay centre with projecting wings of 2 bays and 2-bay ends. The outer bay of each wing is a matching addition of circa 1760 by Lancelot Brown. Each bay is topped with a coped gable bearing heraldic finials and 3-light attic mullion windows with hoodmoulds. The main floors display moulded courses that run around projecting 2-storey bay-windows (three to the south front, two to the south end of each wing), all bays pedimented with heraldic finials except for the centre porch-bay, which features a semi-circular carved head with finials. The windows are mullion-and-transom throughout with hexagonal leaded panes. The centre bay contains a Doric porch with clustered piers and an entablature broken forward over the piers, with a carved panel above and flanking panels, and a first floor mullion-and-transom window with sill course. Windows either side of the centre bay and side lights to the bays appear to be later additions, though all bays may have been reconstructed by Brown.

The east front was added by Brown in Palladian style but was remodelled by John Nash from 1795-1803 in Tudor style. It comprises two storeys with a low basement and a 2-5-2 window arrangement, with the outer bays flanked by octagonal turrets. Dripcourses mark each floor, and a crenellated parapet crowns the front. The upper windows contain nine panes and the lower twelve panes, all with hoodmoulds, with outer windows closely paired. A central first floor canted oriel of 1-3-1 Tudor-arched lights is a notable feature. The north end turret was replaced in 1846-7, the east front being intended for remodelling to match the north side.

The north front was added by Bellamy, replacing a Gothic front by Nash, which itself had replaced a Palladian front of 1747 by N. Ireson. Bellamy's front features a massive projecting central 4-storey stair tower of 2 windows, 2-storey sections each side, and projecting 3-storey, 3-window wings flanked on inner returns by 2-storey one-window sections with curved heads based on the 1582 south front. The detailing is generally Elizabethan in character with motifs from the south front but includes heavy balustraded parapets and pinnacles. At the north-west end, a low Gothic octagonal dairy survives from Nash's work.

The west front serves as the service end. To the right is the return of Brown's addition with a gable matching that on the south front, a first floor Venetian window, and two small quatrefoils below. To the left, in the angle to an adjoining range, stands a 2-storey square-plan block with cornice and stone-tiled square dome, a 9-pane upper window, and elliptical arches with keystone and impost blocks on the south and west sides; the south side contains a door and the west side is blank. This was built by Brown as a muniment room and incorporates a reused medieval vault in the ground floor. Beyond this is an L-plan 2-storey range by Brown with crenellations added by Nash, featuring sashes paired to the ground floors and arched doors in the angle set within an enclosed porch.

The interior contains outstanding surviving work from 1760-1766, with highly ornate plasterwork by T. Stocking and fireplaces by Scheemakers. The most notable spaces are the 72-foot picture gallery on the east side, the Cabinet Room to the south, and the State Bedroom to the west. In the west wing, a former Library also dates from 1760-1766, and the present Library is by Nash. The central part of the house was remodelled by Bellamy and includes an Italianate imperial staircase. Nash's hall fireplace survives in the former servants hall on the north side. An upper floor contains a fine early to mid-18th-century south-west room with panelling and Chinese wallpaper. Several fireplaces from circa 1800-1830 survive throughout the house. The attic south-west room preserves a 16th-century fireplace and cupboard doors.

The house was enlarged 1760-1766 by Lancelot Brown for P. Methuen, altered 1795-1803 by John Nash for P.C. Methuen, and further altered 1846-1849 by Thomas Methuen for the 1st Lord Methuen.