Escot Including Courtyard of Service Buildings Adjoining to North

Details

SY 09 NE
6/157

TALATON
Escot including courtyard of service buildings adjoining to north

GV
II

Country house. Dated 1838, by Henry Roberts for Sir John Kenneway. Flemish bond brick, yellow-coloured
on the main fronts, red-coloured to rear and service outbuildings; limestone ashlar
detail; brick stacks with limestone ashlar chimney shafts, many with original
chimneypots; slate roof.
Plan: large house. Essentially it is a square-plan building, 2 main rooms wide and
2 deep, and faces south-south-east, say south. This south front is a garden front
onto a raised terrace, so too is the west front. The entrance front is on the east
side with the main doorway into the basement. It leads into a large hall containing
the main stair in the centre of the house. All the rooms are heated by a series of
axial stacks. The house is 2 storeys with attics, basement and cellars below.
At the back (to north) the ground drops away so that the cellars face into the
service courtyard there. The west wing projects from the back of the house and it
is a service block. The other wings contain coach house stables and the like with
service accommodation above. There is a sunken carriageway entrance through the
west wing.
Exterior: the east (entrance) has a symmetrical 5-window front. The basement level
is plastered. The central doorway is contained in a flat-roofed porch with stone
parapet. The doorway breaks forward very slightly and contains panelled double
doors flanked by Tuscan pilasters. To left are two 9-pane sashes but the 2 to right
have been replaced by C20 garage doorways. The upper windows are 12-pane sashes,
those on the ground floor are taller than those on the first floor. All have
limestone architraves with entablatures supported on scrolled consoles. The centre
bay breaks forward a little and here the window architraves include flanking panels.
There are moulded bands across at each floor level and below the bottom one at the
right end is an inscribed stone which records the building of the house in 1838 by
Henry Roberts after the old house was destroyed by fire in 1808. Moulded eaves
cornice includes a dentil frieze and the parapet contains balustrades of turned
stone balusters. The low pitch parallel roofs are hipped. The southern (garden)
front has a 1:3:1-window front on to the terrace and is in the same style as the
entrance front. Here the end bays break forward and they contain French windows.
The other garden front (to west) continues the same style and here the centre 3
ground floor windows are recessed behind a 3-bay colonnade. A glass-roofed
conservatory projects forward from the left end.
The service side (to north) has none of the stone detail. It has 1:3:1-window
front. The centre 3-window section is recessed a little and it contains round-
headed sash windows. The same plain style is continued through the service
courtyard buildings which have regular courtyard fronts with 9-pane sash windows.
The west (outer) side of the service wing has more varied fenestration, mostly 9-
pane sashes and some are round-headed.
Interior was not inspected although it is said to be little-modernised and contains
a great deal of original joinery and other detail.
Escot is set in a landscaped park.
The former Escot house was designed by Robert Hooke in 1677-8 for Sir Walter Yonge,
subsequently altered by James Wyettt in circa 1795 and destroyed by fire in 1808.
Source: Colvin, H. A Biographical dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840.

Listing NGR: SY0822798112

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

86913

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Colvin, H M, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840, (1978)

End of official list entry

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