Easton Grey House

EASTON GREY MALMESBURY ROAD ST 88 NE (south side) 3/15 Easton Grey House 12.12.51 GV II

Country House. Circa 1792 with c1880 and early C20 additions. Ashlar with hipped stone slate roofs and tall stone stacks in pairs with linking arches. Austere classical style. East front reveals C18 block to left-hand, c1880 block to right-hand and further C20 additions to north courtyard. South front of 2 storeys, 5 bays. Eighteen-pane sashes to ground floor, 12-pane to upper set in deep reveals without architraves. Slightly projecting central bay with shallow pilasters, blind round-headed niches to either side of first floor window and elongated pediment with Parry-Hodges coat of arms. End pilasters, first floor platband, coved cornice and blocking course. East front has semi-circular portico on Roman Doric columns and Smith coat of arms; sash fenestration. Circa 1880 block of 3 storeys with cambered heads to 12-pane sashes. West front has central canted bay and at the north-west corner an attached service range (now restaurant) with Doric colonnade. Interior. Fine series of reception rooms recently redecorated. Stone flags to Entrance Hall with late C18 marble chimneypiece with Ionic columns and carved animal tableau (possibly imported from Carclew, Cornwall). Elegant cantilever staircase with stone treads, wreathed mahogany handrail and floral wrought iron balusters; panelled dado. Central Ante-Room on south front has C18 Chinese wallpaper. Blue Drawing Room on south front has fine marble and blue john chimneypiece; panelled Dining Room on south front with further marble chimneypiece. House originally built by the Parry-Hodges family but achieved social pre-eminence in the 1880s when it became one of the major country retreats of the 'Souls' during the ownership of Thomas Graham Smith and his wife Katherine. (Unpublished History of Easton Grey House by Mrs Didi Saunders; N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Wiltshire, 1975; Jane Abdy & Charlotte Gere, The Souls, 1984; Alvide Lees-Milne, The Englishwoman's House, 1984)

Listing NGR: ST8787487567