Combe Hay Manor

Details

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

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

32431

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: North Somerset and Bristol, (1958)
Gibbs, J, Book of Architecture, (1728)
Country Life in 16 March, (1951)
Country Life in 9 March, (1951)

End of official list entry

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