Biddesden House

Biddesden House is a large house situated within parkland, built between 1710 and 1711 for General John Richmond Webb. The architect remains unknown. It is constructed of Flemish bond brickwork with stone dressings, and has a tiled roof. The main block is two stories high, with cellars and attics, and is accompanied by an enclosed courtyard to the rear and a walled garden. Terraces from the 18th century lie to the west of the house.

The south front has seven bays, with the central three bays projecting forward, defined by pilasters. Above the cornice is a half-round pediment flanked by sculpted trophies, featuring a central coat of arms. The central entrance features a ten-panelled door with a fanlight within a rusticated frame, covered by a flat stone canopy on consoles. Either side of the entrance are 24-paned sash windows with round heads, set within gauged brick arches with stone key and springer blocks. Three keyed oculi on the first floor open into the entrance hall, with the top key corniced. Bays 1, 2, 6, and 7 feature 12-paned sashes with similar round arches on both floors below the cornice, the cornice itself being enriched with an acanthus frieze. The attic floor has eight-paned sashes in segmental headed openings, with keyblocks, and is topped by a parapet. A fire mark for the Sun Insurance Company is also present. The right return elevation has been altered to match the south front, terminating in a four-stage round brick corner tower with a crenellated parapet, circular openings, and a windvane. The tower contains a bell taken from the siege of Lille. The left elevation is symmetrical with seven bays, featuring a half-glazed door in a pedimented doorcase, and 12-paned sashes with round heads on both main floors. Windows contain paintings: one on the left elevation by Dora Carrington in 1931 depicting a cook, cat, and canary, and similar paintings of fashionable 18th-century people on the two windows of the right elevation by Roland Pym (1935), which were restored in the 1950s. A library was added to the left elevation, built over the rear domestic quarters around 1930, and is constructed in matching style.

The interior features a black and white stone floor in the entrance saloon, along with pedimented and architraved doors to the dining and drawing rooms, and a fireplace. The drawing room has been extended to the north in the 20th century and is fully panelled, with a fireplace including marble slips. The dining room is also panelled, as are many of the first-floor rooms. The early 18th-century oak staircase has a shaped and carved handrail with three twisted balusters to each step, carved brackets underneath, and dado bolection panelling. General Webb, a senior officer under Marlborough, fought at several key battles, including Blenheim, Ramilles, Oudenaarde, Malplaquet, and Wynendaele. The house was built upon his retirement, and a large equestrian portrait of him from 1712 by J. Wootton hangs centrally in the hall.