Itton Court

Itton Court

This is an extremely complex house of multiple periods, built mainly of squared limestone rubble with Bath stone dressings, Welsh slate roofs and lead flats. One formal ashlar front in Bath stone forms the Queen Anne Wing. The north west walls and inner courtyard are rendered and painted; some chimneys are rendered; and the service court is mostly in red brick. The building comprises an open entrance courtyard, an enclosed courtyard entered through a mediaeval gateway, a south wing and a service courtyard to the north. The house is currently arranged as nine residences: Itton Court No 1 (the mediaeval part and south wing), William and Mary Wing Nos 1-3, Queen Anne Wing, Oriel Wing, and Itton Court North Nos 1-3 (service court and old butler's house).

The entrance courtyard is bounded by the Oriel Wing to the north and the old part of the house (No 1) to the east. It is in the Tudor style, although only the entrance tower is actually mediaeval, probably 14th century; the rest dates from 1895-1910. The square three-storey entrance tower has a pointed arch and timber double doors, a 2-light window above, stair slits on the left, a battlemented parapet set on machicolations, and a taller stair turret to the left. The L-shaped two-storey Oriel Wing features mullion-and-transom leaded windows with two canted oriels on the upper floor, a cill string and a battlemented parapet. A taller stair window in the L has two transoms. Two timber-framed gables occupy the angle. A single-storey wing extends to the left. The south wing to the right of the tower (No 1) has five windows with a two-storey canted bay at the right hand end. This front displays six different Tudor window types and a tall stack with an external flue. The wing then turns to the east at a lower level into the later billiard room wing, which has a canted corner window with a gable and smaller battlements of similar character.

The internal courtyard features the William and Mary Wing on the north side. This is rendered and painted with sash windows with glazing bars and small dormers in the roof. On the south east side a discrete block was added in the early 18th century: the Queen Anne Wing. This wing presents a formal two-storey and attic facade of seven bays, with the three centre bays set forward under a pediment. A plat band separates the storeys. The windows are nine-over-nine pane sashes, except for the first floor centre light. A central doorway has half-glazed double doors with a pedimented hood on brackets above it. The window above the door has paired arched lights, likely a Victorian alteration. Six four-light gabled dormers, the inner ones set behind the pediment, light the attic. The roof is hipped overall with two large stacks. This facade has been inspected only at distance. The block has no rear elevation to the courtyard wing. The outer facades on the north and west sides and the interior facades of the service court have not been inspected.

The interior of No 1 (the tower and old part) was inspected at resurvey. It is mostly Edwardian in character but styled in the Tudor manner, and has been somewhat altered. The tower contains two rooms with small fireplaces and a spiral staircase. The south wing contains a panelled long gallery of Elizabethan type, apparently converted from three earlier rooms. This gallery has a ceiling with strip decoration and two stone fireplaces. A small sitting room beyond is also panelled and incorporates some 16th-century linenfold above the fireplace, said to have come from the demolished house Wem-ddu. Plain bedrooms occupy the floor above. A large billiard room, grand when first built, was furnished in Louis Quinze style.