Description

UPTON PYNE UPTON PYNE HILL
SX 99 NW
3/69 Pynes
11.ll.52
- II*
Large house. Circa 1700, perhaps as late as 1725, with extensions and alterations
of 1851 by Ambrose Poynter. Face brickwork, with Portland stone dressings. Slate
hipped roof with lead ridges, moulded cornice and parapet and plan band at first
floor level. 4 large brick axial stacks with classical pots. Square plan, the C19
additions arranged around a small courtyard. 2 storeys with attic set on a half
basement storey of Portland stone. Facades. Garden front (south-east, originally
the main entrance facade), 7 bays, the 3 central bays brought out, all angles with
brick pilaster quoins. Timber sash windows with thin glazing bars, 6 panes per
sash, set in outer reveals and keystone, those on the found floor with moulded
lintels. 3 timber sashes plated in break front. Central bays with brick parapet
breaking cornice, punctuated by 3 sets of 7 Portland stone balusters, hiding 3
attic dormers. Central doorway with broken pediment on double consoles and
pilasters rusticated extending to ground, now giving on to a small stone balcony
supported by double stone brackets, with a collection of reliefs fixed to the wall
below, from a Ground Tour. The basement fenestration now consists of C20 timber
sashes, 8 panes per sash with some other minor alterations to fenestration.
Present main front (south-west), 7 bays, the 3 central ones emphasised by Portland
stone 2-storey pilasters. Central doorway of 1851, yellow freestone, with
rusticated architrave and open pediment containing armorial shield and crest with
foliage and festoons. Timber sash windows within glazing bars, 6 panes per sash,
the first floor central window with architrave. Dormer windows, south-east front,
3 panes per sash with segmental heads. North-east front is a 5 window range of
timber sashes with glazing bars, 6 lights per sash, those on the ground floor
plated sashes. North-west front obscured by Poynters additions, which are
dignified and sensitive to the earlier house. At the north-west angle a gable-end
under pediment, first floor plat band and string course at upper window sill level,
connected to main block by recessed single bay wing of tripartite sashes, 6 panes
per sash. North-east angle formed by a corner block with mansard roof, joined to
main house by a recessed 5 window range. The recessed range may be original.
Interior: all C18 rooms with plaster cornices of varied profile, some moulded wall
panels and plaster ceilings, recessed panelled doors, and Adam-type chimney-pieces.
The 2 most distinguished rooms are the stairhall (of circa 1700) and the present
entrance hall (the White Hall of 1851). Dog-leg staircase, all wood, twisted
balusters; impressive ceiling with large central pilaster oval with rich band of
garlands set within a rectangle similarly treated; cornice with modillions and egg
and dart motifs. Large window now with C17 German glass set in early-C19 painted
glass surrounds (cf Upton Pyne church were dated 1630). White Hall: although quite
a small room Poynter creates quite a grand staircase entrance rising up from ground
level, stone, with stone balusters. Internal tympanum above entrance similar to
its external counterpart. At the head of staircase, a freestanding statue of a
woman in classical dress, on a stone rectangular plinth decorated with figures in
relief. Below plaster cornice is a stone frieze of shields and festoons.
Noteworthy also is the library with a heavy wooden cornice with festoons and egg
and dart motifs. Interior only inspected in part -

Listing NGR: SX9141296350

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Pynes House at Wikipedia
• Pynes House official website
• Wikidata Q7263126

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

• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)