Description

COMPTON WYNYATES
SP34SW
3/71 Compton Wynyates
02/09/52 (Formerly listed as Compton
House and Pigeoncote)

GV I

Fortified Manor House. Mainly c.1500 and incorporating parts of earlier house.
C18 additions. C19 and C20 repairs. Rose-red brickwork with dark brick diapering
especially on the entrance front. Limestone dressings to doors and windows.
Steeply pitched stone slate roofs with stone coped gables and stone battlement
copings. Numerous brick ridge, lateral and end stacks with decorative mouldings.
Courtyard plan. Entrance front: main range plus north and south ranges, 2
storeys plus attic. 3 bays. Corner turrets. Off-centre porch to right is flanked
by gable-fronted half-timbered projecting bays. Irregular fenestration. 2-storey
embattled porch has 4-centred arched entrance with decorated spandrels, on the
left the arms of Katherine of Aragon, on the right the portcullis badge of the
Tudors. Over the entrance the Royal Arms of England supported by the dragon and
greyhound of Henry VII and Henry VIII. 3-light stone-mullioned window with
4-centred arched heads and continuous hood mould. Embattled parapet, the central
panel bearing a sundial. Inner porch has moulded ribbed ceiling beams and C15
door. Low gabled bay to left has 4-light stone mullioned windows to ground and
first floor with hood moulds and label stops and a 3-light mullioned windows to
attic. Gable has herringbone timber-frame and carved bargeboards. Similar higher
bay to right has 4-light stone-mullioned and transomed windows to ground and
first floors with hood moulds and label stops. Attic has a 3-light window. Gable
has herring-bone timber-frame and carved bargeboards. Elsewhere 2- and 3-light
stone-mullioned windows to all storeys. South front includes a large, irregular
embattled tower. To right a 5-light window to the chapel with transoms and
arched heads. Rainwater heads dated IN/1723. East front has addition flanking
east range. Rainwater heads dated IN 1732. Remodelled c.1867 by Sir Mathew Digby
Wyatt. North front includes tower with 7-light wood-mullioned windows and
4-light ogee sectioned stone-mullioned window. Georgian brick parapet.
Courtyard: 4-centred arched doorways and plank doors. Square-headed windows of
2-centred or 4-centred lights and cusped or uncusped heads. East range has large
bay window to the hall noted as coming from Fulbroke Castle. 8-light
stone-mullioned window to chapel range has king mullion and continuous hood
mould and label stop. 4 gabled roof dormers to south range. Parapets, north
renewed C20. Rainwater heads in courtyard dated IN 1732. Interior: Hall. C15
screens passage with linenfold panelling, incorporating earlier carved panels
and C20 doors. Original hall roof replaced c.1512 by a 4-bay roof from Fulbroke
Castle including a deeply carved frieze. C18 stone fireplace. Minstrel gallery
has original roof of c.1480. Buttery at lower end of hall has linenfold
panelling. Passage to kitchen has rail and muntin panelling. Dining Room.
Plaster ceiling of 1620 and later. Panelling of 1620 and 1730 when whole was
painted red. Open-well staircase by Digby-Wyatt. C19 wood and plaster ceiling
above. Drawing Room: elaborately carved C16 fireplace and overmantel from
Canonbury House, Islington. C16 plaster ceiling. Chapel Drawing Room: plaster
ceiling and panelling c.1620. C20 stone fireplace. Wood-mullioned window with
C20 glazing to chapel below. King Henry VIII's bedroom: plaster ceilng c.1625.
Four-centred arched stone fireplace. Wood spiral stair to Council Chamber. C16
clapboard panelling and doors. Stone Tudor fireplace. Stone spiral stair to
Priest's Room, added to the New Tower. Arched-braced collar roof, panelled on
one side. Stone Tudor fireplace. Wood sill in front of south window has carved
crosses. Ante chapel has oak and plaster screen. Chapel. Added by Sir William
Compton. Screens with earlier panels carved on both sides. C20 stained glass.
Noted as being the most perfect picture-book house of the Early Tudor decades
(Pevsner). Formerly moated. Owned by the Compton family since at least the early
C13.
(V.C.H.: Warwickshire, Vol.V, p.60-67; Buildings of England: Warwickshire, 1981,
pp.241-2; Guidebooks to Compton Wynyates pp.1-19; Wright, J., Brick Building in
England from the Middle-Ages to 1550, 1972, pp.390-391).

Listing NGR: SP3306741811

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Compton Wynyates at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q5157180

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings