St Pierre Hotel

St Pierre Hotel

This building is constructed of red and grey sandstone rubble with Bath stone dressings, particularly in the mid-19th-century sections, and is roofed in Welsh slate. Modern extensions on the south side, comprising the Golf Club, are concrete framed with brick infill and flat roofs.

The historic house presents a three-gabled front facing the Gatehouse. Until 1978 this front looked into an open court, but this has since been infilled with a single-storey building now serving as the hotel reception area, completely obscuring the ground floor of the main building from external view. The original front door with 4-centred arch head is visible only from inside, along with flanking mullioned-and-transom windows featuring four panes in the upper lights and six in the lower. Several other mullioned windows are visible above the roof line of the extension, though they are difficult to assess properly. The west front shows four modern windows above the golf club roof.

The garden elevation provides a clearer view. The house shows a main three-storey, three-gable range facing east with another range behind it. The main range features a large mid-19th-century bay window of 6-lights with mullion-and-transom glazing and additional lights on the returns, capped by a parapet with carved panels forming a balcony for the bedroom above. Above this are 3-light 17th-century mullioned windows with dripmoulds, with more windows in the gables, which themselves have verges and ball finials. The ground floor to the right has a large single-storey bar extension with extensive glazing and a slate-hung mansard. The main house has steeply pitched roofs and tall chimney stacks, most of which appear to be 19th-century or later rebuilds.

The south elevation features a similar mid-19th-century bay on the rear range. This bay is two storeys, with a Drawing Room below and main bedroom above, both with 4-light windows plus sidelights, French casements below, panelled apron between, and stone roof above. A small gable window sits above this. The main range gable to the right is obscured by a tree, but a 4-light window in the gable itself is visible. More tall stacks project from the rear. Further round to the east front is the three-bay two-storey kitchen wing, with 3-light windows on the ground floor and 2-light windows above, gables with ball finials. Externally, the house is extremely changed and confusing in appearance.

The interior is substantially altered and the periods of decoration are difficult to distinguish. The hotel Reception incorporates the rear wall of the Gatehouse and the front wall of the main house as its chief features, otherwise fitted out in 1970s style with vaguely Tudor-type panelling. Within the main house, the staircase is mid-19th-century Gothick in pine with turned balusters; the positioning of doorways indicates that an 18th-century staircase occupied the same location, though details do not correspond to the present stair. The Lounge has a ribbed mid-19th-century ceiling in the 17th-century manner. The Dining Room features mid-19th-century decoration in the 18th-century manner with a marble bolection-moulded fireplace. The Panel Room contains moulded panelling with sunk panels reportedly introduced around 1770. Its ribbed ceiling is mid to late 19th-century; another marble fireplace with a bolection-moulded surround is present. Pointed-arch alcoves, probably dating to the mid to late 18th century in the Gothic manner, are also evident. The overlay of different styles remains very difficult to separate and interpret. The upper floors were not inspected at the time of resurvey.