Description

BARWICK CP
ST51NE NEWTON SURMAVILLE

2/21 Newton Surmaville
(formerly listed as Newton House
under Yeovil Without CP)
19.4.61
GV I

Country House. Built between 1608 and 1612 for Robert Harbin, with minor C19 modifications. Ham stone cut, squared and
random coursed, with ashlar dressings; Welsh slate roofs between coped gables, with some lead flat roofs; stone chimney
stacks with pierced stone cowls crowned with ball finials. Medieval hall with flanking porch and passage translated
into Classical and symmetrical terms, somewhat influenced by nearby, and just earlier, Montacute House (qv); Library
and rear services added 1875: principal (North) elevation of 2-storeys with gable attics; 5-bays, of which -1, -3
and -5 are gabled, and -2 and -4 project with flat roofs behind balustered parapets. Plinthed, with string courses,
plain coped gables with profusion of finials including obelisks: semi- circular arched entrance porch in bay-4 with
heavy door in recess, square panel over cutting into string course with arms of Harbin impaling Pert; 5-light by
3-light ovolo mould mullioned and transomed square bay windows through both storeys bay-2 and upper bay-4; elsewhere
matching 5-light windows to ground floor, 4-light to first floor, and 3-lights without transomes to attic gables. East
front to river of 4-bays separated by projecting gables with chimney stacks, one of which is a chimney: central
projection has plain doorway with coat of arms in panel over: 3-light mullioned and transomed windows to full width
each bay, bays-2 and -3; plinth, string courses, balustraded parapets between gables. West elevation plain, with
simple single-storey projecting porch in centre. Internally the principal rooms little altered: entrance passage leads
through to mostly C19 staircase lobby; to right the breakfast parlour (formerly the buttery), with original panelling,
and to the left the one-storey hall, with slightly later panelling and a Georgian cornice to a plain ceiling; through
this room, in the North East corner, the drawing room, with probably original panelling and thin-ribbed plaster ceiling
and two fine Brussels tapestries; beyond this, along the East front, again with original panelling and thin-ribbed
ceiling, with pendants. The staircase to the rear, wrapped around the garde-robe flue, was radically altered in the
C19 when the rear passage was formed. The central first floor bedroom has an original plaster ceiling and panelling as
well as an original fireplace and several tapestries; the first floor library, in the South East corner has a prominent
oriel window, and was added in 1875 to the design of Joseph N Johnstone. On the South side a paved courtyard with C19
stables and the Wring-house, or Cider room. (Grdon Nares "Newton Surmaville, Somerset"; Country Life, issues of
September 5th, 12th and 19th 1952; SANHS Proceedings Volume 56, 1-37 and 2-19/21, also Volume 109 pp 33-34).

Listing NGR: ST5652915395

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Newton Surmaville at Wikipedia
• Newton Surmaville official website
• Wikidata Q7020387

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

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)