Seend Green House

This is a late 17th-century house that was altered and extended in 1760 for Mary, Duchess of Somerset. It is constructed of ashlar, with a low-pitched hipped slate roof. The main house has a square plan of three stories, with a three-story, L-shaped service range to the east.

The north front has a moulded plinth, a dripcourse that steps over the ground-floor windows, a plain string course above the first floor, a moulded cornice, and a parapet. The windows are recessed, chamfered, two-light mullion windows, with traces of removed transoms. They contain early 19th-century small-paned sash windows with Gothic pointed glazing bars to the top panes. A six-panel door is set within an early 19th-century Tudor-arched ashlar porch with carved arms. The west end has a rubble stone wall with string, cornice, and parapet, and a five-window range of blocked openings across the two upper floors. A projecting room from around 1900, rendered with a parapet and a three-window range to the south front, matches the windows of the main range.

The south front, seemingly dating to around 1760, has unevenly spaced windows, suggesting the incorporation of parts of the earlier 17th-century house. It features string courses, a moulded cornice, and a parapet, with sash windows in plain raised surrounds; 12 panes to the second floor, 15 panes to the first floor, and French windows to the ground floor. One opening in the fourth bay is false. A half-glazed door in the third bay sits within a moulded architrave with a segmental pediment on consoles, and is obscured by an early 19th-century Roman Doric porch. All windows have Gothic heads to the top panes.

A L-shaped service wing projects from the north-east angle, with later, lower additions to the south, dating to around 1900. It is rendered with an ashlar cornice and parapet, and features two-light windows in plain architraves. A blank rubble stone east wall has a plaque under the cornice reading 'Built by the Dfs of Somerset 1760', along with a fine lead rainwater head. The rendered north front has a one-window range of two-light windows to the projecting left side and a similar one-window range to the right, in line with the main north front. The string courses continue here in cement. These north front windows also have sashes with Gothic heads to the top panes.

The interior includes early 19th-century Gothic cornices to the main rooms on the south front and an early 19th-century staircase. The house was the principal house in Seend from the 17th century, reportedly dating from 1620. It was owned in the 1660s by John Somner (1622-70), a friend of John Aubrey, and in 1716 passed to Edward Seymour, who became the 8th Duke of Somerset in 1750 and died in 1757. The house was rebuilt for his widow (d.1768) in 1760, remaining in the possession of the Dukes of Somerset into the 19th century. Early 19th-century alterations were likely carried out for C. Tylee, a banker who leased the house around 1820-1850.