The Mansion House (Corsham Youth Centre)

The Mansion House, now Corsham Youth Centre, is a house dating from circa 1720, with alterations made in 1897 by H. Brakspear. It is constructed of ashlar, with a hipped stone-tiled roof and two central ashlar stacks. The main house is two storeys and an attic, with a five-window front and a square plan, presenting a formal north front. The design includes a raised plinth, a moulded cornice above the ground floor, a modillion cornice, a parapet with five short sections of balustrade, and channelled quoin pilasters. The windows are set in architraves with fielded panels, and contain C19 plate-glass sashes. The central entrance features an eight-panel double door within an architrave, topped by a scrolled pediment on brackets, with semi-circular steps leading up. Three dormers with alternating pediments are visible, with similar dormers on the east and west sides; the east side incorporates a large projecting bay dated 1897. The garden front is largely C19 in appearance, except for the presence of quoin pilasters and piers. An arched doorway displays carved arms and the dates 1721 and 1897.

Attached to the west is a three-section service wing arranged in an ‘L’ plan. The first range is early 18th century, three storeys and an attic, with a coped west gable and end stacks, three hipped dormers, and a six-window range. Originally featuring two-light, flush, cyma-moulded mullion windows, four first-floor windows were replaced with C19 twelve-pane sashes. It has moulded timber eaves, flush quoins and dripcourses. A C19 glazed corridor runs in front of the ground floor, with two ashlar porches, although original details survive within. A single-storey room with a large bay window is positioned at a right angle in the second section, dated 1900 on the north stack. Beyond this is a two-storey stable, dated RNS 1723 for R and S Neale. The stable has coped gables, end stacks, and a door within an ashlar surround with a cornice, with ashlar framing a datestone and decorative keyed oval upper window. The sides are constructed of rubble stone, originally rendered, with a one-window range to the right and two windows to the left, featuring two-light mullion windows, possibly C19. One window is located in a blocked elliptical arched opening.

The interior retains much fine fielded panelling, including completely panelled rooms on the northwest of each floor. A panelled hall arch and paired arches are present on the landing. The staircase has a surviving panelled dado and carved brackets to the treads, although the balustrade has been removed. The northwest rooms on each floor are panelled, with the upper room featuring a bolection-moulded fireplace.