Listed Building record MDO44605 - Bettiscombe Manor House, Bettiscombe

Bettiscombe Manor House is an early 18th century two storeyed house of brick with slated roofs. The entrance hall has moulded ceiling beams, some of them probably 16th century material re-used. <2>

Bettiscombe Manor House is of Georgian style. Apart from the beams mentioned above, there are no indications of a former building, and no information was obtained regarding the manor or a former building on this site. <3>

A building of attractively unsophisticated dignity, walled in red brick with vitrified headers, and with stone angle quoins to the house and chimney stacks. Oswald dates the house to 1694, and suggests that it was built for John Pinney, rector of Broadwindsor. The windows of the main front were all altered c 1800, and the pedimented door-hood appears later. <4>

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1903 (Map). SWX1540.

(ST 40140030) Bettiscombe Farm (NAT) Manor House (NR) (Remains of) (NAT)

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 79 (Monograph). SDO97.

'(2) Bettiscombe Manor House (Plate 79), ¼ m. N.E. of the church, is of two storeys with cellars and attics; the walls are of brick and the roofs are slate-covered. The house, consisting of a main block and two wings, forming three sides of a square, was begun early in the 18th century, but building appears to have gone on for some years and some refitting may have taken place in the second half of the century. There are 18th-century additions on the W. The S. front has a moulded band between the storeys and later windows with flush frames and segmental heads; the doorway (Plate 80) has a hood formed of a Doric entablature and pediment, resting on carved and scrolled brackets; later posts support the front of the hood. On the N. front the doorway has side-pilasters and a shell-hood resting on scrolled brackets; some of the windows are blocked. The two side-wings are of similar character to the main block but retain some windows with flat arches; the window lighting the staircase in the E. wing has a round head and key-block. Inside the building, the Entrance Hall (Plate 79) has a central arcade of three bays with panelled piers and elliptical arches with key-blocks and panelled spandrels; the ceiling has moulded beams forming square panels, the beams E. of the arcade have leaf-enrichments and are probably 16th-century material reused; the opening into the E. wing is round-headed and the walls are lined with panelling with a cornice and dado-rail. The E. room has later 18th-century panelling. The staircase (Plate 53) in the E. wing appears to be of c. 1720–30 and has turned balusters, fluted newels and ramped handrails; the walls are panelled and the dado follows the lines of the stair-rail. On the first floor there is a corridor on the N. side of the main block with arched openings into the wings similar to those of the hall arcade but with semi-circular arches. The principal bedrooms have fireplaces with bolection-moulded surrounds and panelled overmantels with central oval or square panels; the walls are panelled and finished with dadorails and cornices; small closets retain their 18th-century fittings (Plate 80). Many of the doors are original and retain their original brass furniture, and a bedroom retains an original grate (Plate 80).

The Enclosure-wall, in front of the house, is of early to mid 18th-century date and has an iron railing on dwarf walls and gate-piers with moulded cornices and cappings. The brick-built Barns, W. of the house, are probably of early 18th-century date.'

<3> Swatridge, G C, Various, Field Investigators Comments GCS, F1 GCS 04-MAR-55 (Unpublished document). SWX1169.

<3.1> Pinney, Mrs B H, Oral: Mrs B H Pinney (owner), Bettiscombe Manor (Verbal communication). SDO18742.

<4> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset (Monograph). SWX1290.

<4.1> Oswald, A, 1959, Country Houses of Dorset (Monograph). SWX2642.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 193096 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Nov 8 2022 3:53PM