Listed Building record MDO14370 - Clifton House, Clifton Maybank (Clifton Maubank)

Mid sixteenth century Manor House, probably by Sir John Horsey. Partly demolished in 1786 when various parts were sold and re-erected in Dorset and Somerset. House re-conditioned in 1906-7, when additions were made on the north and east sides.

[ST 57621391] CLIFTON HOUSE [G.T]. <4>

The house was built, or rebuilt, probably by Sir John Horsey (1546-64). The walls are of rubble and the roof tiled. The greater part of the building was demolished in 1786, when the front of the house was taken down and re-erected as part of Montacute House. The remaining part was reconditioned in 1906-7, when additions were made on the N. and E. sides. The 16thc. part of the house would seem to have been the E. wing of the original building.

[ST 57651390. S.E. of Clifton House is an e.16thc. building, apparently unrelated to the original house. [Note: See MDO14371]

A manuscript dated 1648 describes the house as a freestone building, of two and three storeys. To the S. of the house was a green court and a gatehouse with lodgings. (The S. was the main front of the house). Without the gatehouse was a grass square with the chapel.

The Horsey family were at Clifton Maybank from the time of Henry VI. <5>

The old gateway leading into the courtyard was erected in the reign of James I. It was taken down in 1800, and re-erected in the park at Hinton St. George, where it is still standing.
[Other information similar to <1>]. <3> [Additional reference] <2>.
[Note: For the current Gateway at Clifton House see MDO14372].

The house has reverted to its early name of Clifton Maubank. The unoccupied building to the S.E. is not named [Note: ie MDO14371]. The O.S. reference to the remains of the Gateway seems doubtful, since apparently the whole structure was removed to Hinton St. George, and the gateway led into a courtyard which one would assume was much nearer to the house. The S.,E. and N. sides are comparatively modern.

The House. Viewed externally the W. face is apparently 16thc. The house is of three storeys with attics and there is a fine oriel window in a gable on the W. face. So much of the house has been demolished, or built in recent times, that the building only incorporates remains of the 16thc. house of John Horsey.

The building S.E. of the main house [Note: ie MDO14371] is in excellent condition and as described in T.2. <5>

Hutchins (T.2. <5>) describes a gatehouse which stood to the S. of the main building. This was probably at or near the present main entrance, 50.0m. S.S.E. of the house and was presumably the building now at Hinton St. George. There are no visible remains at the site. <6>

The 13 bay section of the earlier house was removed circa 1546-64 and rebuilt at Montacute House, (ST 41 NE 3). Only bays 1/3 and 11/13 still remain as original C16th work. <7>

NOTE: House name may occur as Clifton Maybank, Clifton Maubank or Clifton House.

<1> Hutchins, J, 1873, The history and antiquities of the County of Dorset. Volume 4. 3rd edition, 425-6, 430 (Monograph). SDO10245.

<2> Heath, S, and Prideaux, W, 1907, Some Dorset Manor Houses, 77 (Monograph). SDO17596.

<3> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1913, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1913, pxxxvii (meeting) (Serial). SDO18633.

<4> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, OS 6" 1938 (Map). SWX1540.

<5> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 98-99 (Monograph). SDO97.

‘(1) Clifton House, on the N. side of the parish, is of three storeys with attics; the walls are of rubble and the roofs are tiled. The house was built or rebuilt about the middle of the 16th century probably by Sir John Horsey (1546–64). The greater part of the house was demolished in 1786 when various parts were sold and re-erected at various places in Dorset and Somerset. One main front was re-erected at Montacute; the early 17th-century lodge was removed in 1800 to Hinton St. George. The house was re-conditioned in 1906–7 when additions were made on the N. and E. sides. The present house would seem to have been the E. wing of the original building, of which the main block extended to the W. from the middle of the existing wing. The isolated structure to the S.E. seems not to have formed part of the main block.

The S. Front (Plate 108) is original and was formerly of two storeys with attics, as is the front now re-erected at Montacute. It is of two unequal bays divided and flanked by semi-octagonal shafts or buttresses with concave faces and of which the pinnacles have been removed; between the former storeys is a moulded string-course and in front of the two gables is a panelled parapet of pierced quatrefoils uniform with that at Montacute. The door in the modern porch incorporates some late 16th-century woodwork. On the ground floor are two stone-mullioned windows perhaps of the 17th century and in the gables are original windows of two and three lights respectively. The other windows are 18th-century alterations. The W. Front (Plate 108) seems to have been redesigned after the demolitions of 1786, but the central gable may indicate the position of the former main block of the house. In this gable has been reset an original oriel window of three transomed lights in front and one on each return; below the sill is a band of sub-cusped quatre-foiled panels enclosing horses’ heads (for Horsey) and Tudor roses. At the N. end of the front is a shaft or buttress similar to that at the S. angle. In the N. wall, above the modern additions, is an original three-light window. Inside the building, in the E. wall of the hall are two 16th-century doorways with moulded jambs and four-centred arches with leaves and shields-of-arms of Horsey, Turgis, Horsey and Maubank in the spandrels. In the N. wall, over the staircase, are two original windows of two and three lights, respectively. In the modern Dining Room is a reset 16th-century fireplace with a four-centred arch and carved leaves in the spandrels. The Study and Drawing Room are lined with 18th-century deal panelling, as is also a bedroom on the first floor. A room on the second floor is lined with 18th-century bolection-moulded oak panelling. The late 16th-century staircase (Plate 52) has symmetrically turned balusters, square newels with pendants and grip-handrails.

The detached Building (Plate 38), S.E. of the house, is of two storeys with cellars; the walls are of stone and the roofs are tiled. It was built early in the 16th century and formerly extended further to the N. The building retains a number of original windows with four-centred heads to the lights. At the N.W. angle is a projecting stair-turret, entered by a doorway with a four-centred head; there is a similar doorway in the N. wall further E.; the eastern part of this wall is gabled and formed the end of a destroyed wing of which the butt-ends of the walls remain. Inside the building, a room on the ground floor has an original fireplace with moulded jambs and flat four-centred head. The original roof is exposed over the W. part of the building; it is of collar-beam type with curved braces under the collars and curved wind-braces; those between the upper purlins are cusped and form quatrefoils.’

<6> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 06-JUL-55 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<6.1> Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments, Oral: Mrs G Turnbull 2.7.55 (Owner & Occupier) Clifton Maubank Sherborne (Unpublished document). SWX999.

<7> DOE (HHR), 1987, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest: District of South Somerset 1987, Montacute. Oct-87 66 (Scheduling record). SDO18635.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, MDO14370 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 24 2022 11:23AM