Nonsuch House

Nonsuch House is an early 18th-century house of group value, constructed from ashlar with a stone slate hipped roof and ashlar stacks. Originally a 7-window formal front, it was extended by one bay to the left. The main front features three segment-headed dormers, a 2-3-2 window range with a slightly projected centre, a panelled parapet, and an applied pediment containing a keyed roundel. A raised plinth, moulded string course, cornice, and thin pilaster strips mark the façade, with one parapet urn surviving on the right. Windows are 18-pane sashes in bolection-moulded surrounds with moulded sills. A fine 8-panel door is set within a bolection-moulded doorcase with a segmental pediment resting on carved consoles, incorporating floral ornament in the frieze and soffit. The bay to the left projects with a matching parapet cornice and string course. Service additions to the left, likely dating from around 1920, are built in a matching style, with a recessed bay followed by a projecting section with a hipped roof. A two-story canted bay has been added to the west end, along with a one-window range incorporating 12-pane sashes. A southwest corner urn marks the end wall of a parallel-roofed garden front, likely of early 18th-century origin and altered around 1920. This section is constructed of squared rubble stone, featuring four hipped dormers and a seven-window range of sashes in plain surrounds, with an early 20th-century segmental pedimented doorcase. Angle pilaster strips mirror those on the front elevation. A sundial dated 1693 is also present. Photographic evidence indicates that the seventh bay is a later addition. The right-hand side exhibits a two-story, four-window service range, probably all dating from around 1920, with a roof that is hipped to the east. The interior was extensively remodelled around 1920 in 18th-century styles. The front hall showcases a fine stamped leather wall-covering and a c.1920 fireplace. An original closed-string staircase features turned balusters. A room to the west contains a unique fireplace from around 1760, with console scrolls supporting maiden’s heads in profile relief. The southwest room displays an Adam-style decorative scheme, perhaps wholly of c.1920 apart from a marble fireplace with a curved plaque, while the southeast room features an 18th-century marble fireplace. On the first floor, the central area includes a restored 16th-century Tudor-arched fireplace. The house is believed to have been built in 1646 for Lord Digby, with the estate passing to William Norris (1656-1730) around 1700, who rebuilt it after 1705. An estate map from 1705 depicts a house with a steep hipped roof and mid to late 17th-century details. The Norris family owned the house until 1835, followed by the Meredith-Brown family until around 1920. Alterations were carried out for the Bankier family, owners from 1923 to 1930.