Belcombe Court

Belcombe Court is a country house of 18th-century origins, rebuilt in 1734 by John Wood the Elder for Francis Yerbury, a clothier. The building is constructed in coursed and dressed limestone with ashlar facades in Westwood stone to the south and west elevations. It has stone slate and Welsh slate roofs with ashlar ridge and end stacks.

The house follows an asymmetrical plan in the Palladian style. The arrangement comprises a west wing containing a study and parlour to the south of a central hall with service accommodation at the end, connected by a central block containing the dining room to a smaller east wing. These elements enclose three sides of a central courtyard to the south, paved in local ragstone set on edge with a circular pattern at its centre.

The building is two storeys throughout. The four-bay west elevation facing the courtyard features revealed 19th-century six/six-pane sashes. Two bays to the left are pedimented and brought forward to flank the pedimented principal doorway. This doorway has a panelled door set in a square-headed moulded architrave with engaged Ionic columns supporting a pulvinated frieze enriched with bay leaf and garland ornament, crowned by a triangular pediment.

The south elevation of the central dining room is of five bays with revealed 19th-century six/six-pane sashes. Above the central bay stands a carved stone bust set in a circular recess, above which rises a semi-circular arched recess with keystone and imposts. A tall gable rises above the parapet. The east wing features a small bellcote above two arched openings for bells and a clock, inscribed with the initials "J.Y." and the date "1770".

The east elevation contains two revealed 19th-century six/six-pane sashes and a similar parapet. It terminates in an end block with a keystone and imposts to a semi-circular arched archway and a string course beneath a similar bust and recess. Above this rises a circular stone turret with a domed stone roof surmounted by a lantern with cupola and weathervane. Other elevations of the east wing include one one-light trefoil-headed window to the south, a similar bust and archway to the east, late 17th or early 18th-century two-light stone-mullioned windows, and 19th-century glazing-bar casements. Mid-18th-century four/four-pane sashes with thick glazing bars appear to the east.

The rear of the central dining-room range has four 19th-century six/six-pane sashes, an outshut adjoining a lateral stack, and a moulded flat hood over an 18th-century panelled door.

The west wing presents its principal garden fronts to the south and west. The pedimented three-bay south elevation is articulated by Ionic pilasters rising from a plinth course to a cornice, with a pulvinated frieze, dentilled cornice and dentilled pediment enriched with egg and dart carving. A circular window occupies the tympanum, and garlanded stone urns crown the acroteriae. The 19th-century ground-floor windows are six/six-pane sashes and the first-floor windows are three/three-pane sashes, all set in moulded stone architraves with pulvinated friezes to the ground floor and triangular pediments on enriched brackets. Balustraded aprons sit on the plinth course. Stone balustrades, each bearing three ornamental urns, run diagonally from each angle.

The west elevation presents a seven-bay range with a 1:2:2:2 fenestration pattern. Slightly-projecting two-bay pedimented wings flank the centre. The left wing has thick mid-18th-century glazing bars to its ground-floor window adjoining an inserted 19th-century half-glazed door. The bay to the left features a cornice to the parapet and a tripartite sash above a six/six-pane sash set in a Venetian architrave with Tuscan pilasters and entablature supporting a central triangular pediment. The centre bays have similar cornices and parapets with irregular fenestration, comprising tripartite sashes above a canted bay window with 19th-century four/four-pane sashes and a sash with radiating glazing bars lighting the staircase above a 19th-century half-glazed door. A paved area to the front incorporates some balustrading. A mansard roof features two flat-headed dormers. The rear north and east elevations of the west wing, facing the service court, have revealed 19th-century sashes of up to eight/eight-panes and a stone bracketed hood over a panelled door.

The interior contains several rooms of exceptional significance. The dining room in the centre wing features a foliate frieze to its cornice and a late 18th-century neoclassical fireplace. An adjoining room to the right has a late 18th-century neoclassical fireplace, mid-19th-century flanking cupboards, a panelled dado with Vitruvian frieze to the rail, and a mid-19th-century lincrusta frieze decorated with pomegranates.

The west wing retains rare surviving interiors by John Wood himself. The central hall has a decorative flag floor and a fine dog-leg staircase with turned balusters in front of a segmental arch on fluted Corinthian columns supporting a bay, with a fine circa 1730s-40s fireplace featuring a sunburst mask to the frieze and flanking female terms (imported in the mid-20th century).

The panelled octagonal study to the south displays exceptionally fine enriched carving to its shutters, doors and window architraves, and two recesses feature a pulvinated bay leaf-carved frieze above a marble fireplace with moulded architrave. The coved rococo ceiling, probably by Thomas Stocking, is particularly fine, incorporating swags of leaves, grapes and roses to the border, an enriched modillioned cornice, and an octagonal central panel containing a basket of fruit and flowers encircled by cherubs set against clouds.

The drawing room to the west of the study, facing the garden, has similar carvings to its architraves and panelling, an early 19th-century classical fireplace with Ionic pilasters and modillioned cornice. Its fine ceiling, probably by William Stocking, displays delicate interwoven tendrils and butterflies. A mirror is set in a pedimented Corinthian aedicule flanked by two niches.

On the first floor, fine panelled doors and shutters survive, along with mid-18th-century coved ceilings and moulded cornices. Panelled rooms retain original fireplaces and basket grates. A suite of three rooms includes a central former dressing room with a fine plaster frieze decorated with urns, flanked by two rooms each with bed alcoves having elliptical arches on Doric columns. The room to the east features an overmantel medallion depicting Hercules and female figures.

Belcombe Court is recognised as one of the most celebrated of Wood's villa designs and "the most lyrical of all Wood's creations". It is particularly notable for its rare surviving interiors by the architect.