Dunstall House

Dunstall House is a house dating from the early to mid 17th century with alterations made in the mid 18th century, situated in Cirencester. It has a courtyard plan, with the front range rebuilt in the mid 18th century, and wings to the rear left and a rear range likely dating to the early to mid 17th century.

The construction is of coursed squared limestone rubble with ashlar dressings, and a stone slate hipped roof to the front range. A stone stack is located to the right end of the front range, with a rebuilt brick stack at the rear. The house has three storeys, an attic, and a cellar. The front elevation has a three-window arrangement. The first floor features three eight-pane sash windows within moulded stone architraves, while the second floor has three similar sash windows with four panes each, also in similar architraves. The ground floor has two eight-pane sash windows in moulded stone architraves with a frieze and cornice, and stone sills, to the left and right, and a central six-panel door with a decorative fanlight. The door is set within a moulded stone doorcase featuring Doric pilasters and an open pediment, though the arrises of the pilasters and bases have been rounded off. A hipped dormer with a two-light timber casement is positioned above. Two blocked oval openings, in flat, unmoulded stone surrounds, are located beneath the ground floor windows, providing access to the cellar. A shallow ashlar plinth is also present. Cill bands mark the first and second floors. A modillion cornice tops the elevation, leading to a coped parapet, with rusticated quoins at the left and right angles. The rear elevation has two gables; most of the windows have been renewed and possibly altered in the 20th century, though a three-light stone-mullion window with a hoodmould is found on the first floor to the right, and a similar two-light window in the gable above.

Internally, the house has been altered in the 20th century, likely around the 1920s. An early to mid 17th-century oak staircase, featuring pierced flat, tapering balusters with Ionic capitals, pierced pendant drops, and ball finials, has been refixed and potentially relocated during the 1920s within the rear left wing. A ground floor room in the rear range contains early to mid 17th-century oak panelling with applied moulding forming eared panels, a moulded dado rail, and a timber cornice, along with a 20th-century timber surround matching the stone fireplace and a two-panel door. A first floor room in the rear range has 18th-century panelling and a stone bolection-moulded fireplace. Additionally, two plastered beams are visible, displaying chamfers with run-out stops and notches containing plaster leaf decoration, similar to examples at nearby properties. A similar beam, without the leaf decoration, exists on the first floor landing. 17th-century panelled doors are found throughout the side and rear ranges, while the front left side contains interior detailing from the mid to late 18th century.