Description

ST 75 NW COMBE HAY

10/17
Combe Hay Manor
1.2.56
G.V. I

Manor house. In two phases: the western part is c.1728-30 and has been
attributed to John Strahan of Bristol; the east and south elevations are
c.1770-75 and have many similarities to the work of James Wyatt or George
Steuart; for Robert Smith and his son, John. Ashlar with hipped slate roofs
behind a blocking course, modillioned cornice, and pulvinated frieze to the
west front; ashlar stacks. 2 storeys and attics in hipped dormers, and
basement to east side. The west front has 3:2:3 bays : the central bays are
marked by Giant Ionic pilasters which support a pediment. Glazing bar sash
windows in lugged and moulded architraves with cills on brackets; pulvinated
frieze and dentilled cornice over ground floor windows; bays 2 and 7 are
blocked. The central feature is a Venetian window with Ionic pilasters to the
outer lights; the central light is a blank, round-headed niche with an
elaborate keystone which supports a shield of arms (John Smith and his wife,
post 1775) surrounded by an enriched rococo cartouche. The south front has
3 bays: the outer windows are tall tripartite glazing bar sashes divided by
Tuscan pilasters which support a frieze with paterae and a pediment; central
glazed doorway in a Tuscan column doorcase with fluted capitals and a plain
entablature, and a shallow semi-circular niche over. The ends of the
elevation break forward as wide pilasters and are decorated with tall round-
headed niches on the ground floor and oval niches above. The east front of
7 bays has glazing bar sash windows without surrounds; central panelled door
under an overlight and in a doorcase with paired half-columns, side lights, all
surmounted by a pediment. Interior. Hall: coved ceiling and enriched
frieze; screen at west-end of 2 Tuscan columns with fluted capitals;
panelled doors in enriched surrounds with paterae and moulded cornice.
Drawing Room: anthemion frieze; oval ceiling (a Wyatt drawing for a similar
but circular ceiling survives in the Victoria and Albert Museum) with scalloped
centre which is surrounded by 16 linked oval panels bordered with leaves;
4 oval corner panels painted with grisaille of cherubs; marble neo-classical
fireplace; panelled doors in architraves with frieze as main frieze. Dining
Room: apsidal niche at north end, enriched with plasterwork; enriched frieze;
panelled doors with enriched frieze; marble fireplace. On the west side of
the house are four rooms with features of the 1728-30 period. Oak Room:
plain fielded panelling and modillioned cornice; 8-panel doors in enriched and
lugged architraves and under pediments; overmantel surround by guilloche
moulding with side volutes, open segmental pediment with shield and swags,
enriched frieze; on the opposite wall is a panel in an enriched surround with
side volutes, bay leaf frieze and swan-neck pediment with central shell and
C-scrolls. Morning Room: fielded panelling with enriched cornice; 8-panel
doors in lugged architraves and under dentilled pediments; coloured marble
fire-surround; overmantel of a central panel with swags and a female head
under a shell, side volutes and segmental pediment with egg and dart cornice;
flanking the fireplace are fluted Doric pilasters which support a triglyph
frieze with decorative metopes; similar treatment to opposite wall but with a
central mirror in an enriched surround. Staircase Hall: oval glazed lantern
with enriched frieze. On the first floor west are 3 panelled rooms with
dentilled cornices, each with a 1728-30 fire surround: at the south, lugged
architrave and overmantel with a relief bust flanked by swags, all set on a
panel which is surmounted by a pediment (illustrated in Gibbs' Book of
Architecture, 1728); in the centre, lugged architrave and overmantel with a
fielded panel, side volutes and a segmental pediment; in the centre north,
lugged surround with a bold egg and dart moulding and an overmantel in an
enriched border. (Country Life, 9.III.1951, 16.III.1951. N. Pevsner, The
Buildings of England : North Somerset and Bristol, 1958).

Listing NGR: ST7348659818

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Combe Hay Manor at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q5150763

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

• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)