Listed Building record MDO1677 - The Turret, Melbury House, Melbury Stamford

(ST 57600596. The Turret. Hexagonal structure depicted on OS 2500 1980)
The Turret. Now a free-standing garden house, its original function is unknown. C16th hexagonal plan,embellished in 1762.
Grade II*. (1-3)

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 167 (Monograph). SDO97.

'The "Turret" (Plate 141), a garden-house just S.W. of the house, is of coursed rubble with ashlar dressings. It was built probably in the 16th century, with 18th-century additions in Gothic style; in the note of his visit here in 1762 Horace Walpole mentions the new decoration of shields-of-arms inside. It is an octagonal building with plinth-mould, moulded string and embattled parapet with crocketed pinnacles at the angles; the entrance on the S. side has depressed-ogee moulded head springing from slender clustered jamb-shafts with crocketed terminals, over it is a tracery panel in two heights. The interior, in one stage, has a semi-circular niche opposite the entrance, with round head under an ogee label; the octagonal ceiling is ogee-shaped with mounded angle-ribs and is painted with shields-of-arms.' {1}

<2> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset (Monograph). SWX1290.

<3> English Heritage, 1984-1987, Register of parks and gardens of special historic interest in England: Dorset, Part 12 (Monograph). SWX1383.

<4> Chandler, J, and Cox, P, 1997, Proposed New Swimming Pool at Melbury Sampford House, Melbury Sampford, Dorset. Archaeological and Historical Assessment (Unpublished document). SDO12361.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 882189 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 27 2025 1:48PM