Baynton House

Baynton House is a country house located in East Coulston, originally built in the early 17th century. It was rebuilt in the 1780s by William Evelyn and later extended and refronted in 1797 by William Long. The house is constructed of rendered brick and features a hipped Welsh slate roof, along with brick and stone stacks that have moulded cappings. It is designed in a U shape and has two storeys with a seven-window east front.

The entrance includes a six-panelled door with a transom light set within a Tuscan porch to the right of the centre. To the right, there is a 12-pane sash window and a tripartite sash, while to the left, there are three sashes and one tripartite sash. The first floor has seven sash windows, all of which are framed by moulded stone architraves, topped with a stone modillioned cornice and a plain blocking course. The left return, or garden front, features a central glazed door with a pediment supported by fluted columns, flanked by tripartite 15-pane sashes on either side and a central 12-pane sash with tripartite sashes on the first floor. The lead rainwater heads are marked with the initials W W and dated 1797, and the front also includes a cornice and quoins.

The right return has a single-storey range of 20th-century flat-roofed services with casement windows. The rear of the house has 12-pane sashes and tripartite sashes on both the ground and first floors, surrounding three sides of a courtyard.

Inside, the entrance hall features 17th-century wainscot panelling with a strapwork frieze, possibly reset, along with six-panelled doors that have cocks head hinges. The hall boasts chamfered cross beams with stepped stops, and the 18th-century staircase has two turned balusters per tread and a moulded wreathed handrail. There is also a 17th-century staircase leading from the first to the attic floor, which has carved square balusters and a very wide moulded handrail, possibly reset. The 18th-century part of the house, including the south wing added in 1797, features six-panelled doors in panelled reveals, Adam-style fireplaces with cast-iron grates, decorated plaster ceiling friezes, and window shutters. The library fireplace has a wooden surround with a scrolled frieze and fluted columns.

Baynton House is set within parkland that includes a lake. The house was renamed in the 1790s by William Long, who relocated here from the original Baynton House in Edington, which had been destroyed.