Description

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

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17535986

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

• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy