C House

C House, Marlborough College

C House is a substantial early 18th-century country mansion built in chequer brick with rubbed brick quoins and a central ashlar block. The building dates from 1699 (when bricks were ordered) to 1702 (according to Celia Fiennes's account), with the west wing added in 1706 and the design completed by 1723 when drawn by Stukeley. It is roofed in hipped old tiles and features very tall chequer brick chimneys, one on the north front of the east block with a pronounced entasis, all decorated with cornicing and sunken panels.

The house comprises three adjacent blocks of unequal height. The smaller central block is set back deeply on the courtyard (north) side and very slightly on the garden (south) side. There are two storeys of unequal height with attics and a basement visible on the garden front. A string course runs above the ground floor.

The courtyard side displays ranges of 5-3-5 cased sashes with glazing bars; those in the central block have arched heads with sunk panels below the first floor windows. The flanking blocks each have three attic dormers with casements and glazing bars, moulded cornices and pedimented gable ends. The central block is crowned by a modillioned pediment. A notable ashlar colonnade of four pairs of unfluted Roman Ionic columns spans the space between the flanking wings, carrying a full entablature and providing a covered passage to the north door. This colonnade was purchased from Mildenhall Woodlands around 1800.

The garden front features ranges of 6-3-6 windows and four dormers (rather than three) on the flanking blocks, otherwise matching the courtyard elevation. The central block has ashlar-moulded window embrasures, impost blocks, keystones, aprons and consoles. The entire central range is faced in ashlar, approached by a curving flight of stairs with 18th-century iron rails leading to a door with moulded surround and cornice on consoles. A parapet to the roof contains four ashlar piers and three sunk panels. The west front features a central door with ashlar surround and segmental pediment on consoles.

The interior retains a good staircase hall with a staircase featuring huge vase-shaped balusters. A Jacobean fireplace with considerable strapwork and carving depicting Moses striking the rock has been re-set within. There is good early 18th-century panelling throughout and a stone-flagged hall.

The house was built by Charles Seymour, the 6th Duke of Somerset (known as the Proud Duke), on the site of an earlier house begun around 1621 by Sir Francis Seymour. This earlier house had been visited by Charles II in 1663 during the ownership of the 2nd Lord Seymour of Trowbridge. The Proud Duke resided mainly at Petworth House in Sussex but built this house at Marlborough. On his death in 1748, his son the Earl of Hertford occupied the house; the Earl's wife, a friend and admirer of Alexander Pope, created a picturesque garden. Following the Earl's death in 1750, the house was sold and operated as the Castle Inn, a fashionable stopping point on the London to Bath route, until the construction of the Great Western Railway in 1837 affected the town's prosperity. The building was purchased in 1843 by the newly founded Marlborough College.

C House now forms part of a significant group of college buildings including B House, The Museum Block, The Arcade, the Bradleian Building, the North Block, the Porter's Lodge, gates and railings, the chapel, and A House.