Heytesbury House

Heytesbury House is a country house rebuilt in 1782 for the Ash a Court family, with alterations made in 1820. It is constructed of limestone ashlar, with a hipped Welsh slate roof and ashlar stacks. The main building is a large rectangular block with a courtyard range to the west. The front façade has three storeys and eleven windows, featuring sash windows. A central semi-circular Ionic porch provides access via double half-glazed doors, with five margin-pane French windows on either side, accompanied by blind boxes. The first floor has eleven 12-pane sashes, and the second floor has eleven 6-pane sashes. The building is finished with a dentilled eaves cornice and a plain blocking course. To the left of the front is a two-storey, five-windowed range with 12-pane sashes and a 6-panelled door, capped by a dentilled eaves cornice. The left return presents a two-storey, seven-windowed facade in English bond brick, featuring a central round-arched opening to the courtyard, along with sashes and some blind windows. The courtyard itself incorporates sashes, tripartite sashes, and 6-panelled doors. The right return is distinguished by a central bow with three French windows and three sashes to the first floor, and three 6-pane sashes to the second floor. The rear has a two-storey range to the right with tripartite sashes and blind windows, and a main range to the left featuring two projecting wings with sashes. An infill section from 1820 incorporates a central Greek Doric portico in antis with 6-panelled double doors within an eared architrave. Lead down pipes and rainwater heads are also present. Although inaccessible at the time of survey (June 1985), the interior is reputed to contain evidence of an earlier house. The 1820 rear entrance hall features segmental arches to the ceiling with a glazed dome. Interior features from the 1780s include a dining room with Roman Doric columns flanking a servery, and a rococo fireplace from Wardour. Original 18th-century chimneypieces, joinery, and Chinese wallpaper in the drawing room remain. An open-well staircase has an iron balustrade and a mahogany handrail. The poet Siegfried Sassoon resided here for over thirty years until his death in 1967. The house is set within a park featuring fine planting.