Listed Building record MDO9165 - Wolfeton House, Charminster

Manor house and attached gatehouse. Gatehouse with date reset 1534. Early C16 courtyard house, of which only part of one range survives. House extended to west in later C16. Demolitions in early C19. 1862, house bought by W H P Weston and his works of restoration and rebuilding were extensive, including a passage way between the house and gatehouse, and alterations to the offices to the west. Purbeck rubble stone and ashlar walls. Stone slate roofs.

Wolfeton House, a two storeyed stone rubble and ashlar building evidently had origins in the 15th century although nothing of that date now survives, except perhaps the gatehouse which may have been started at the turn of the 15th/early 16th century. The earliest surviving features incorporated in the present house are the remains of the former west range of an early 16th century courtyard house, built by Sir Thomas Trenchard, which was extended later in that century but substantially demolished in the early 19th century. In 1862 the house was extensively rebuilt and restored on its present plan. (see plan). <2-3>

The gatehouse has two gunports. <4>

Wolfeton House (name confirmed) is as described above though now in poor condition (see ground photograph). <5>

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

(SY 67859212) Wolfeton House [NR]

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 1, 63-67 (Monograph). SDO146.

<3> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 143-46 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<4> Fortress Study Group, 1977, Fort: the international journal of fortification and military architecture, 85 (Serial). SDO20119.

<5> Attrill, N J, Field Investigators Comments NJA, F1 NJA 09-MAR-81 (Unpublished document). SDO14743.

<5.1> Name Board (Verbal communication). SDO17979.

<6> Historic England, Historic England Archive, DT00198 (Index). SDO14738.

Detail of the carved overmantel in the West Drawing Room of Wolfeton House. A print of this image is in the RCHME Inventory Notes for Charminster.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 453357 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Sep 9 2023 7:21AM