Escot Including Courtyard Of Service Buildings Adjoining To North

Escot is a country house dated 1838, designed by Henry Roberts for Sir John Kenneway. It replaces an earlier house on the site, originally designed by Robert Hooke in 1677-8 for Sir Walter Yonge, subsequently altered by James Wyatt around 1795, and destroyed by fire in 1808.

The house is constructed of Flemish bond brick, with yellow-coloured brick to the main fronts and red-coloured brick to the rear and service outbuildings. Limestone ashlar provides detail throughout. The roof is slate, and brick chimney stacks rise above the building with limestone ashlar chimney shafts, many retaining their original chimneypots.

The building is essentially square in plan, two main rooms wide and two deep, rising to two storeys with attics, basement and cellars. The house faces south-south-east onto a raised terrace. Ground level drops away to the north, allowing the cellars to face into a service courtyard. A west wing projects from the back of the house as a service block, with other wings containing coach house, stables and service accommodation above. A sunken carriageway entrance passes through the west wing.

The entrance front faces east and presents a symmetrical five-window composition. The basement level is plastered. A central doorway is contained within a flat-roofed porch with stone parapet, breaking forward slightly and containing panelled double doors flanked by Tuscan pilasters. The basement flanking the porch has two original nine-pane sashes to the left, though the two to the right have been replaced by twentieth-century garage doorways. Upper windows are twelve-pane sashes, with ground floor examples taller than those on the first floor. All windows have limestone architraves with entablatures supported on scrolled consoles, and the centre bay breaks forward slightly with architraves that include flanking panels. Moulded bands run across at each floor level. An inscribed stone records the building's construction in 1838 by Henry Roberts following the fire of 1808. A moulded eaves cornice includes a dentil frieze, and the parapet contains balustrades of turned stone balusters. The low-pitched parallel roofs are hipped.

The south garden front is a symmetrical composition of one-three-one windows in the same style as the entrance front, with end bays that break forward and contain French windows. The western garden front continues this style, with the centre three ground floor windows recessed behind a three-bay colonnade. A glass-roofed conservatory projects from the left end.

The northern service front lacks stone detail and presents a one-three-one-window composition, with the centre three-window section recessed and containing round-headed sash windows. The same plain style continues through the service courtyard buildings, which have regular courtyard fronts with nine-pane sash windows. The outer west side of the service wing displays more varied fenestration, mostly nine-pane sashes with some round-headed examples.

The interior was not inspected during listing, though it is said to be little modernised and contains substantial original joinery and other detail.

The house sits within a landscaped park.