We aren’t a hotel, although our food is renowned far and wide, nor are we simply an education college. We are instead a unique place of learning. If you haven’t already experienced that special Urchfont quality then join one of our wide range of courses and find out for yourself.

If you are already a friend, then we look forward to seeing you again!

The present house was built in 1678 by William Pynsent, a wealthy London barrister who had made a profitable marriage and decided to move to Urchfont where he had purchased an estate of 1600 acres. It appears highly likely that the house incorporated parts of an earlier building, most notably the great Tudor fireplace which lies in what is now the entrance hall but must originally have been the kitchen (there are great stone slabs under the carpet).

As originally constructed the house was a long rectangular building in the Restoration style, built of locally made brick with Bath stone dressings, facing south towards Salisbury Plain. The entrance in the centre of the south front was originally surrounded by the imposing stone portico which was later transferred to the east front.                                     

In 1687 Pynsent was created a baronet by King James II, and later appointed Sherriff for Wiltshire and elected Member of Parliament for Devizes, so it was not surprising that following this rise in his social and political status he decided to enlarge his house. This was achieved by an extension to the east end of the house, creating an impression of a much grander and larger mansion than in reality exists (stand to the south or east of the house and it looks cube-shaped, but move round to the north or west and you soon realise that it’s only L-shaped). This east front is typical of many houses of the late 17th and early 18th century, known as Queen Anne or Wren style, with an imposing centre section topped by a triangular stone pediment and standing forward from the north and south wings. The architect for this extension is supposed to have been the celebrated architect William Talman, assistant to Christopher Wren in the great reconstruction of Hampton Court Palace.

In 1719 Pynsent died and was succeeded by his son – also William Pynsent – who on his death in 1765 left Urchfont and its estates to the Prime Minister William Pitt (to find out more about this bizarre bequest read the full history of Urchfont by Tom Barklem). William Pitt quickly sold the property to the Duke of Queensberry who already owned lands in the parish including the lordship of the Manor: so it was that Urchfont House in 1767 officially became Urchfont Manor.

Since the Queensberrys lived in a very grand house at Amesbury they leased Urchfont to tenants. Tenants continued to occupy the Manor through changing ownership until 1843 when Simon Watson Taylor, eldest son of George Watson Taylor of Erlestoke Park, bought the estate and moved in. Major changes to the house in this period included the change of front entrance from the south to the west front, the consequent move of the kitchen to the north wing, and the reduction in size of the main staircase by construction of a “back stairs” for the servants.  

In 1928 the house was purchased by Hamilton Rivers-Pollock, a distinguished lawyer who lived in it with his family until his death in 1941. After a short wartime period when the house was occupied by “TB children” evacuated from London, it was bought in 1945 by Wiltshire County Council to establish a residential centre for adult education. The college was officially opened in June 1947, and so it was that Wiltshire was the first authority in the country to recognise the importance of residential education.