Hestercombe House

ST22NW CHEDDON FITZPAINE CP HESTERCOMBE

5/48 Hestercombe House

GV II*

Country house, now fire brigade headquarters. Some C16 work remaining, subsequent C18 enlargement and alterations no longer visible beneath circa 1875 refronting and enlargement. C19 work for Viscount Portean. Ashlar Ham stone, gabled cross wings and central pedimented block breaking forward, slate roofs, mansard roof to tower. L-plan entrance front (West) with North West tower, long South front with service wing. Italian Villa style with French renaissance and Greek details. Two storeys with attic and basement, 3 storey centre, 4 stage tower, 2:3::2:3 bays; Symmetrical West front apart from canted bay ground floor left, sash windows without glazing bars, flat roofed Doric porch with paired pilasters and Doric columns, half glazed double doors with side-lights. Miscellaneous South front, evidence of blocked mullioned windows on South East gable end. Interior: C16 moulded arch in North West crosswing, 1870s plasterwork to coved stair ceiling, and in reception rooms with coeval panelling and chimney pieces. This was the home of the gentleman architect Coplestone Warre Bamfylde, died 1791, who extensively improved the grounds. When Edwin Lutyens laid out the gardens (qv), the South front was completely covered with creeper and formed a sympathetic backdrop to the gardens now lacking. (Photographs in NMR: Country Life, October 10th and 17th, 1908).

Listing NGR: ST2415028723