Pynes

Pynes is a large house built circa 1700, possibly as late as 1725, with substantial extensions and alterations carried out in 1851 by the architect Ambrose Poynter. The building is constructed of face brickwork with Portland stone dressings, and features a slate hipped roof with lead ridges, a moulded cornice and parapet, and a plan band at first floor level. The roof is punctuated by four large brick axial stacks with classical pots.

The house is arranged on a square plan with the 19th-century additions set around a small courtyard. It rises two storeys with an attic, set on a half basement storey of Portland stone.

The garden front, facing south-east and originally the main entrance facade, comprises seven bays with the three central bays brought forward. All angles are marked with brick pilaster quoins. The windows are timber sashes with thin glazing bars, six panes per sash, set in outer reveals with keystones; those on the ground floor have moulded lintels. Three timber sashes are set in a break front. The central bays feature a brick parapet breaking the cornice, punctuated by three sets of seven Portland stone balusters that conceal three attic dormers. The central doorway has a broken pediment on double consoles with rusticated pilasters extending to ground level, now opening onto a small stone balcony supported by double stone brackets. Below this hangs a collection of relief sculptures from a Grand Tour. The basement fenestration now consists of 20th-century timber sashes with eight panes per sash, alongside minor alterations elsewhere.

The present main front, facing south-west, has seven bays with the three central bays emphasised by Portland stone two-storey pilasters. The central doorway, dating from 1851, is constructed of yellow freestone with a rusticated architrave and open pediment containing an armorial shield and crest with foliage and festoons. Timber sash windows with glazing bars, six panes per sash, light the facade; the first floor central window has an architrave. Three dormer windows with segmental heads light the south-east front, each with three panes per sash.

The north-east front is a five-window range of timber sashes with glazing bars, six lights per sash, those on the ground floor being plated sashes. The north-west front is largely obscured by Poynter's additions, which are executed in a manner dignified and sensitive to the earlier house. At the north-west angle stands a gable-end beneath a pediment, with first floor plat band and string course at upper window sill level, connected to the main block by a recessed single-bay wing containing tripartite sashes of six panes per sash. The north-east angle is formed by a corner block with a mansard roof, joined to the main house by a recessed five-window range. This recessed range may be original.

The interior contains 18th-century rooms throughout, featuring plaster cornices of varied profile, some moulded wall panels, plaster ceilings, recessed panelled doors, and Adam-type chimney-pieces. The two most distinguished rooms are the stairhall, dating from circa 1700, and the present entrance hall, known as the White Hall, created in 1851.

The stairhall is a dog-leg staircase of all wood with twisted balusters. It features an impressive ceiling with a large central pilaster oval set within a richly decorated band of garlands contained within a rectangle similarly treated. The cornice displays modillions and egg and dart motifs. A large window, now containing 17th-century German glass set in early-19th-century painted glass surrounds, lights the space (matching dated 1630 glass at nearby Upton Pyne church).

The White Hall, though quite small in scale, contains a grand staircase entrance designed by Poynter, rising from ground level in stone with stone balusters. Above the entrance is an internal tympanum similar to its external counterpart. At the head of the staircase stands a freestanding statue of a woman in classical dress on a stone rectangular plinth decorated with figures in relief. Below the plaster cornice runs a stone frieze of shields and festoons. The library is also noteworthy, featuring a heavy wooden cornice decorated with festoons and egg and dart motifs. The interior was inspected only in part at the time of listing.