Keepers Lodge In Hinton Park, With Ancillary Building And Enclosing Walling

This is a late 17th-century park house or folly, which was restored and refurbished in the early 1980s. The main building is constructed from local stone, rendered and colourwashed, with dressings of Ham stone. It has a hipped, almost pyramidal, clay tiled roof with stone slate base courses, and brick chimney stacks. The plan is square, with two storeys and one bay on each face. It features hollow-chamfered mullioned windows with unworked top mitres; these are 3-light with labels on the north and south faces, and a single light on the upper level of the west side. More recent 20th-century windows and stairlights are on the east face, and a 20th-century single-storey link wing connects to the main building across the compound.

The building is surrounded by an enclosed courtyard, approximately 16 or 17 metres across, with a stone rubble wall that was formerly lime rendered, now nearly 2 metres high and finished with double-angled coping. There is a plain opening on the east side, and small, single-storey pavilions with matching pyramidal roofs at each corner, except for the south-east corner, which has a coped gable with a chimney. This corner pavilion contains a large cooking fireplace with an oven. Adjacent to the enclosure, on the west side, is a later building, likely from the late 18th century, with a plain gabled roof, now linked to the main building, and retaining a former stone approach stair on its south gable leading to a first-floor doorway which has since been modified with 20th-century windows and a doorway. Traces of several other outbuildings are visible against the compound wall on both sides.

The original purpose of the building remains uncertain, as it shares similarities with structures at Hinton St George. It was likely used for summer parties and picnics, situated on a hilltop with striking views. Despite significant reshaping in the late 20th century, the group retains considerable interest.