Phillips House

Phillips House is a country house dating to 1813-16, designed by Jeffry Wyatville for the Wyndham family, and built on the site of an earlier house. It is a building of group value. The house is constructed of limestone ashlar, with a Welsh slate hipped roof and ashlar stacks featuring moulded cappings. It comprises a large rectangular main block with a rear service courtyard and stables.

The front façade has nine bays and is two storeys high, displaying a classical design. A prominent tetrastyle Ionic portico has a central French window set within a pilastered surround adorned with slender consoles. Flanking the portico are three 15-pane sash windows to the left and right. A plat band runs across the first floor, above which are nine 12-pane sashes. A moulded stone cornice sits above the sashes, leading to a plain parapet. The right return shows a central pair of French windows flanked by two 15-pane sashes in projecting bays, with a tripartite sash in a semi-circular headed panel on either side. The first floor mirrors this with a plat band and five sashes. The left return features a 15-pane tripartite sash in a semi-circular headed panel to the right, three sashes above, and four to the first floor. To the left is a curved outer wall, part of a former service wing now converted into apartments, with a central semi-circular alcove and seat, and five 9-pane sashes to the first floor. A stack and sashes are also present on the left return. The rear elevation includes 15-pane sashes, two 6-panelled doors to the ground floor of the service range, and 12-pane sashes to the first floor. An attic storey is topped by a moulded stone cornice, with a large 18-pane tripartite sash, smaller 6-pane and 9-pane sashes on the west range, and round-arched carriage doors to the right. Lead rainwater goods are fitted.

Inside, the central square stair hall has a stone imperial staircase with painted brass balustrades and enriched newels. On each side of the first floor, Ionic scagliola columns create an open gallery to the north and south, enclosed on the west and east sides. A shallow saucer vault is topped with a drum lantern and features scrolled foliage frieze. The main reception rooms have double 6-panelled doors, window shutters, marble fireplaces, and plaster ceiling cornices and margins with floral ornament. A high-relief frieze depicting cornucopia and shields is found in the hall. The interior remains largely unaltered and restrained.

Stable blocks attached to the rear enclose the service courtyard on three sides, constructed of ashlar with Welsh slate roofs. They include 12-pane sashes and square-headed double planked stable and carriage doors. A central through entry to the courtyard from the north features a segmental-headed archway with a pediment.

The house replaced a 17th-century house and was sold by the Wyndham family to Bertram Phillips in 1916, at which time it was renamed Phillips House. It was given to the National Trust in 1943.