Building record MDO32951 - Duntish Court, also known as Castle Hill, Buckland Newton

A country house designed by Sir William Chambers and built around 1760 for Fitzwalter Foy. The house comprised a central block flanked by pavillions, in a style with strong Palladian influence. It was built of brick with stone detailing, but the walls were covered in render in the eighteenth century; the roof was heightened at the same time. The house was demolished in 1965, to be replaced by a bungalow shortly after.

Duntish Court has been alleged the seat of Alured de Lincoln (pre 14th century) but there is no confirmatory evidence of this. The manor later passed to the families of Govis and Latimer, the latter held the mansion in the 16th century. In the 17th century the house was restored and in 1760 a new house was built (Castle Hill ST 6923 0682) a little to the north of the first one. There was a chapel here but the site is unknown. <1>

There is no visible evidence of the former house. The siting symbol occurs at the west end of a reed filled pond now completely overgrown with shrubs and nettles. The chapel mentioned may have been a domestic one. <4>

Castle Hill, ST 69230682, also called Duntish Court, was built about 1760 and demolished in 1965. <5>

No change to report of 13 9 55. Castle Hill demolished as reported by RCHM. <6>

<1> Hutchins, J, 1868, The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset. Volume 3. 3rd edition, 695-708 (Monograph). SDO11486.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1900, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch two (Map). SDO11594.

Duntish Court (NR) (site of) (NAT)

<3> DOE (HRR), 1951, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest: Dorchester Rural District 1951, 12 (Scheduling record). SWX2329.

<4> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 13-SEP-55 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<5> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 1, 50-52 (Monograph). SDO146.

‘(4) Castle Hill (69230682), 1 m. N.N.E. of the parish church, also called Duntish Court, was designed c. 1760 by Sir William Chambers for Fitzwalter Foy. The house was originally of brick with stone dressings but the walls were rendered in the 19th century; at the same time the roof was heightened. The house was demolished in 1965 and in the course of its destruction the finely jointed red brickwork of the original fabric was revealed.
Castle Hill was a dignified country residence showing Palladian influence in the massing of the central block and flanking pavilions. It is illustrated in Vitruvius Britannicus, V, pls. 61–3, and in Hutchins (1st ed., II, opp. p. 257). These illustrations show that the central block was originally without attics and that the pavilions were joined to the central block only by low screen walls, pierced by gateways. Each pavilion was surmounted by a square lantern with arched sides and a concave tent-shaped roof, probably lead-covered, supporting a weather-vane. Subsequently, to enlarge the house, the roof-level of the centre block was raised and dormer-windowed attic rooms were provided; the stairs were remodelled and a vestibule was added; the N. pavilion, originally containing stables, was made into kitchens and service rooms; the pavilions were joined to the central block by converting the screen walls into ground-floor passages, and the lanterns on the pavilions were turned into chimneys by removing the tent-shaped roof and inserting a tall octagonal flue at the centre of each. These changes were made in the second half of the 19th century.
The following description, compiled while the house was still standing, is given in the present tense in the usual terms of the Commission's survey.
Architectural Description—The main part of the house is of three storeys with dormer-windowed attics. The ground floor, originally service rooms, now contains a billiard room and living rooms of secondary importance; the principal rooms are on the first floor and are approached from the garden by ornamental flights of steps; the principal bedrooms are on the second floor. The main entrance, at ground level on the W., is preceded by a 19th-century octagonal vestibule, rusticated externally and roofed with a lead dome. The vestibule and the passages on either side, leading to the N. and S. pavilions, conceal the lower part of the main block. Above them, the W. façade is symmetrical and of five bays, the three middle bays being grouped in a slightly projecting pedimented feature; the windows of the flanking bays are more isolated; the central projection is also emphasised by a subsidiary cornice at second-floor sill level. The main cornice, with modillions, is set some distance above the second-floor window heads; the same mouldings with the addition of a corona form the inclined coping of the pediment. Above the flanking bays the original cornice is surmounted by a high plaster cove decorated at intervals with acanthus scrolls in relief; the cove and the dormer windows in the heightened roof are of the 19th century.
The E. façade (Plate 123) resembles the W. in having a pedimented central projection of three bays, and single-windowed flanking bays. The ground floor has rusticated quoins at the outer angles and window lintels with heavily rusticated voussoirs. In the centre a double stone stair sweeps up to a balustraded platform in front of the central first-floor opening, which extends down to the floor and has a semicircular head, and glazed doors in place of the lower sash. The other first-floor windows have moulded stone architraves with horizontal entablatures; the second-floor windows have architraves only. The cornice, pediment and coved eaves are similar to those of the W. front. The S. façade is without a pediment, but otherwise repeats the details of the E. front; it has three openings on each floor including a doorway at the centre on the ground floor; a pedimented hood distinguishes the central window on the first floor. The N. façade has fenestration similar to that on the S. but the openings resemble those of the W. front in having no architrave mouldings.
The N. and S. pavilions are single-storied. The N. pavilion is faced on the E. side with rusticated round-headed arcading in five bays, the end bays projecting a little in front of the other three. The middle arch has a doorway with a fanlight above, the other four arches have rectangular windows. The roof is of slate with lead dressings and the eaves have coved cornices. The plan of the service rooms inside the pavilion bears no relation to the E. façade, being separated from it by a corridor. The S. pavilion is similar to the N., except that the S. bay of the arcaded E. front is replaced by a glass conservatory. The great central chimney-stack on each pavilion is a prominent feature; it comprises an embattled octagonal flue rising through an open aedicule, square on plan, with a round-headed arch in each side and ball finials on canted pedestals at the corners. The aedicules appear to survive from the roof lanterns of the original design.
Inside the main block, the central doorway of the W. front leads into the octagonal vestibule and thence, by a short flight of stairs, to the Hall where are the principal staircase, a doorway to the Saloon on the E., and doorways to the Drawing Room and Boudoir on the S. The stairs and other fittings are of the 19th century. The Saloon has a panelled dado and six-panel doors with a central bead to simulate two leaves. The doorway architraves are capped by heavy entablatures with pulvinated oak-leaf friezes in gesso. The fireplace surround, of plaster in imitation of stone, is decorated with swags of drapery flanking a bull's skull below a Doric cornice. The Drawing Room doors and doorways are generally similar to those in the Saloon. The 18th-century plaster ceiling and cornices are enriched with foliate ornament, swags, reeding and trophies of musical instruments (Plate 72). In the fireplace surround, richly decorated white marble brackets support a white marble frieze and cornice, set off against a background of red marble; the middle panel of the frieze has a classical urn and sprays of foliage, the side panels, over the brackets, have paterae; below the brackets are lion masks and pendent wreaths. In the Dining Room the walls are decorated with large plaster panels. A frieze of pendent drapery between vases is surmounted by a modillion cornice, and the ceiling is enriched with a reeded oval border entwined with vine sprays; at the centre are three wreaths of ears of corn, the central wreath surrounding an urn and patera. The fireplace has an inner surround of red veined marble flanked by wooden Ionic columns which support an entablature with a centre panel depicting putti among vine wreaths. The Morning Room has a wooden fireplace surround enriched with acanthus leaves and a central frieze panel of leaves and wreaths. In the Boudoir, niches flanking the fireplace have glazed doors with traceried glazing bars. The variegated marble fireplace surround is flanked by wooden pilasters carved with masks from which hang wreathed leaf sprays, above is a frieze of classical urns and swags of leaves. On the ground floor, below, the Billiard Room has an ornate fireplace in which the cornice is supported on foliate scroll brackets from which pendent sprays of flowers and fruit hang down on each side; in the frieze swags of grape vine luxuriate on each side of a central urn.
The mullioned stone windows from a 16th or 17th-century building are reset in the flint wall of a Summer House, 100 yds. W. of the main building. They are chamfered and hollow-chamfered and have plain labels. They probably come from the earlier house, which stood to the S. of the 18th-century building (Hutchins, III, 708); Thomas Barnes repaired it in the 17th century (Coker, 95). To the S. of the S. pavilion is an 18th-century Grotto of rubble and flint.’

<6> Phillips, A S, Various, Field Investigators Comments ASP, F2 ASP 21-OCT-77 (Unpublished document). SWX3817.

<7> Historic England, Historic England Archive,
Object Number Object Title Scope And Content
BF112573 (Index). SDO14738.

Castle Hill (also known as Duntish Court), Buckland Newton. File contains a photograph of the country house Castle Hill, also known as Duntish Court, built in 1760 and demolished in 1965.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 198776 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Nov 25 2021 3:45PM