Pinbury Park

Details

SO 90 SE DUNTISBOURNE ROUSE -

8/78 Pinbury Park

4.6.52

GV II*

Large country house. Some C15 remains but principally late C16; altered late C17 for Sir Robert Atkyns; wing added c1903 by Ernest Gimson and Ernest Barnsley for Earl Bathurst. Random rubble and coursed limestone; dressed quoins and windows; ashlar front porch; ashlar chimneys; stone slate roof. Main range of 2 storeys with attic; central hall with 1 room laterally; staircase wing centrally at rear; 2-storey service wing runs back at east end; c1903 wing at south behind and parallel to main range; adjoining cottage (q.v.) linked to service wing. Front of 3 windows with cross-gables at each end: central doorway with chamfered Tudor-arched porch having small side windows; heavy studded and banded plank door; windows all now mullioned and transomed leaded timber casements with deep stone lintels; 6-light to ground and upper floor, except central 4-light above porch; smaller 4-light in each gable; parapet gables with roll-topped coping, continuous between gables. Gabled west end with one 6- light to ground floor and indications of former cross-window above; at low level a cellar window, one moulded jamb having undercut hollow chamfer, probably survival from C15 or earlier monastic building. Projecting chimney stack to reverse side of main range. Stair wing has 2-light recessed cavetto mullioned window on side and at back at attic level a 3-light, both with hoodmoulds. Partly obscured and now blocked mullioned window at back of main range indicates stair wing is addition. C20 west wing is cross- gabled with chimney in north gable stepped with stone-slate weatherings; west end has canted bay window to ground floor with 4-light front and single-light side windows, a 3-light above and narrow slit vent in upper part of gable; all windows chamfered mullioned with deep stone lintels and sills; exposed purlin ends in gable. Facing south onto court: 3-light with 2-light above in gable; wing linked to main range by single-storey flat-roofed corridor. East end of main range has roll-topped coping to parapet gables; blocked attic cross-window with reserved chamfered moulding indicates original C16 fenestration; small off-centre recessed ovolo moulded single-light to upper floor. Lower service wing with late C17 fenestration of 2 and 3-light casements and rendered timber lintels; C20 flat-roofed extension of one storey projects to east; at back of service wing small ashlar chimney stack. Single-storey gabled service rooms span sunken path at rear and connect with adjoining cottage. C17 ovolo moulded panelling in hall and altered late C16 newel staircase beyond; 2 fireplaces in main range: in room to left of hall late C18 Adam style with fluted pilasters and acanthus leaf decoration, vertical fluting to lintel with rosettes and central panel carrying urn in low relief; in room to right of hall fireplace is C17 style with carved pulvinated frieze to lintel and central heraldic shield in strapwork surround. Principal room in C20 wing is an important early example of Cotswold Arts and Crafts work: fielded panelling throughout by Barnsley with a richly carved stone chimney-piece by Gimson depicting a stylised oak tree (complete with squirrels eating acorns!); heavily modelled plasterwork also by Gimson with floral frieze and rose decoration to beams; plaster inscription above fireplace reads: 'ILLE TERRARUM MIHI PRAETER OMNES ANGULUS RIDET'. Terraced gardens to south west, and to west ancient avenue of yew trees know as the Nun's Walk. House restored and occupied by Sir Robert Atkyns, the county historian, up to his death in 1711. Its origins are monastic and the siting on a promontory overlooking a deep part of the Frome valley is very similar to that of Nutbeam Farmhouse in Duntisbourne Leer (q.v.). Pinbury Park was lent to Gimson and the Barnsley brothers by Earl Bathurst in 1894 when they first set up the Sapperton Arts and Crafts community, and the work on the then dilapidated house was their first architectural work in the area. (W. R. Lethaby et al, Ernest Gimson: His Life & Work, 1924; G. Mullings, A History of Pinbury Park, n.d.; and D. Verey, Gloucestershire: The Cotswolds, 1979.)

Listing NGR: SO9553104948

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

127178

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Verey, D, The Buildings of England: Gloucestershire 1 The Cotswolds, (1970)
Mullings, G, A History of Pinbury Park, ()
Lethaby, W R et al, Ernest Gimson His Life and Work, (1924)

Other
Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England, Part 16 Gloucestershire,

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