Listed Building record MDO10323 - Binghams Melcombe House, Melcombe Horsey

House, Gatehouse and hall, mainly of two storeys, forming an informal grouping around a court-yard. Probably originally early sixteenth century, but with additions and alterations attributable to the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Walls are of rubble, banded flint and stone, ashlar and 'chequerboard' stone and flint, and gable ended roofs are of stone slate and tile, with a variety of ashlar and brick stacks.

Bingham's Melcombe was formerly a manor and hamlet. The manor was in early times the property of the Turbervilles but about the time of HEN III or ED I passed to the Binghams. The seat of the family is near the church <2>. From 1250 until a few years ago the Binghams have continuously resided at the manor house without a break in the male succession. The Gatehouse is a small building with thick buttressed walls and the house is grouped about an inner courtyard. The whole is an excellent example of Tudor domestic architecture. <3>. <2-3> The house is well preserved and is mainly constructed of dressed stone and flint courses though part of the house is of stone rubble. There are no modern extensions though the windows are largely mullioned 17th century type, Georgian and a few are fairly modern. The roof is of stone tiles. The Gatehouse has Georgian windows and wide sharply pointed arches with buttresses but the building is obviously pre-Georgian. There is a fine circular dovecote of stone rubble and a stone tiled roof with a very few modern tiles. It is still in use as a dovecote. Probably 16-17th century. <4> `I wish the house to be known as Bingham's Melcombe.' <5> ST 771021. Bingham's Melcombe is built round three sides of an irregular courtyard, entered through a Gatehouse on the SE. In the 13th century Robert Bingham acquired the property by marriage with Lucy, the daughter and heiress of Sir Robert Turberville, and it remained in the Bingham family until 1895. The Gatehouse has been attributed to the 14th century on the evidence of the form and moulding of the main archways, but no other features equate with such dating, and the whole is more probably of the early 16th century. Though remodelled superficially in c.1730, it is the earliest complete surviving part of the house. Doubtless the Hall too was medieval, but only a fragment of walling possibly of this period survives; it was almost entirely remodelled in the mid-16th century. Bingham's Melcombe, largely informal in plan and elevation, forms an outstandingly picturesque group of buildings, which is given distinction by the mid-16th century architectural treatment of the hall oriel in the early Renaissance Italianate style. Full architectural description <7>. A number of ancillary buildings etc. stand near the house, in the formal gardens and in the park to the S. The 18th-century Barn incorporating stabling, close NE., is of rubble and thatch. The Ice House, 20 yds. N., is an early 19th-century structure beneath an earth mound. Some 30 yds. NNW is a circular rubble-built Dovecote of the late 17th century, with a conical roof. At the end of the formal garden and 80 yds. WNW. is an 18th-century Summer House of brick with a slated roof. It is semi-circular in plan, with a wide open archway on the chord facing E. The building is incorporated in a brick Garden Wall dated 1748. At the entrance to the park, some 250 yds. S., is a late 18th-century Gateway. It is of fine Purbeck ashlar with rusticated piers with moulded bases and cornices, surmounted by the eagle crest of the Binghams. The ironwork of the gates is modern. Listed as "Most Worthy of Preservation" <6> <6-8> ST 70 SE MELCOMBE HORSEY BINGHAM'S MELCOMBE 10/141 26-1-56 Bingham's Melcombe House GV I House, Gatehouse and hall probably of early 16th century origin. Other additions and alterations of the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Plan: informal grouping around a courtyard; the north range contains the hall with an oriel flanked by two wings; the east part of the south range is formed by the gatehouse; connecting the gatehouse with the hall are a sequence of service and other rooms of various builds. Mainly of 2 storeys. <10>

Record last edited

Jan 2 2024 9:42AM