It is thought that the first Urchfont Manor House dated from 1487.

A Gem in a Glorious Setting

One major 16th century landowner was Robert Noyes who built up land in Urchfont and Eastcott and sold the Manor site to William Pynsent.

The present house was built in 1678 by Pynsent, a wealthy London barrister who had made a profitable marriage and decided to move to Urchfont when he had purchased the estate of 1600 acres.

The house is regarded by Pevsner as one of the best houses of its type in Wiltshire. 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.

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)

Pynsent's Progress

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.

18th & 19th Centuries :  Prestigious Inheritors

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.

20th Century : Lawyers, Evacuees and Education

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.

More on Urchfont Manor and the Urchfont village history (opens new window)