Details
COUNTISBURY
SS 74 NE
4/18 Glenthorne including adjoining
- game larder and courtyard wall
GV II
Country house. Circa 1829 - 30, for the Reverend Walter Stevenson Halliday,
kitchens enlarged in 1839 and library added in 1846 (datestone). Further mid - C19
alterations and additions. Uncoursed stone with limestone ashlar dressings, some
painted. Gable-ended slate roofs.
Plan: irregular plan; main range with library wing to right and former
conservatory (rebuilt probably in the mid C19) to left with service ranges and
former to rear. In a Tudor Gothic style. 2 storeys with 1-storey former
conservatory and 3-stage service tower.
Exterior: moulded plinth, moulded cornice and coped parapets, with finials to apices
and various ridge and lateral stacks with single and multiple painted circular and
octagonal terracotta shafts.
South-east (entrance) front: asymmetrical composition consisting of projecting
gabled entrance wing off-centre to left with 1-storey range adjoining to left and
larger gable set-back off-centre to right with slightly projecting library wing
adjoining to right. Two and 3-light mullioned and transomed wooden windows with
octagonal pattern cast-iron and wooden glazing bars (said formerly to have been
painted copper), and returned hoodmoulds. Entrance wing has trefoil-headed lancet
to attic with moulded cill and hoodmould with carved stops; first-floor canted oriel
window of 1:2:1 lights with quatrefoil panels below, corbelled base with alternating
carved devices and moulded cornice and parapet with moulded coping; moulded Tudor-
arched entrance with returned hoodmould and nail-studded boarded door. One storey
range to left formerly a conservatory (see old print); central canted bay of 1:3:1
lights, gable above has lancet with hoodmould; octagonal wooden gothic cupola with
tented lead cap and wrought iron finial. Gable-set back to right of wing with attic
lancet, 3-light front floor window and ground-floor canted bay of 1:2:1 lights
Library wing added to right (see straight joint at break), consisting of central
first-floor 3-light window flanked by cross windows and central ground floor canted
bay of 1:3:1 lights. Right-hand gable-end with attic lancet, 3-light first-floor
window and ground-floor canted bay. Stone dated "Nov 4/1846". Large external stack
to rear of library range.
Rear wing: north-east (garden) front with hipped dormer, first-floor 3-light
casement flanked by cross windows, and French casements with Tudor-arched entrance.
Gabled block in angle with attic lancet and 3-light first-floor window and ground-
floor canted bay; right-hand return front has first-floor Tudor-arched cast-iron
window with small octagonal panes and ogee-tracery in head. Gable end of rear wing
with attic lancet, first-floor 3-light window and ground-floor canted bay.
Service ranges: to south-west: 3-stage clock tower with 6-panelled door at base,
trefoil-headed lancets with hoodmoulds and octagonal wooden Gothic cupola with
tented lead cap. Clock on top stage to north-west. Hollow-chamfered Tudor-arched
kitchen doorway with carved spandrels, returned hoodmould and boarded door. Carved
boar's head above door with Latin inscription, mostly illegible at time of survey
(July 1987) but with the dates 4 November 1820 (1829?) and 3 May 1831. Game larder
built into hillside to rear of kitchen; pair of 2-light windows with gauze and
segmental brick-arched heads, flanking central 6-panelled door with segmental brick-
arched head. Gable above with coping and raised stone shield in centre, dated
"July/1858". Gabled cupola and pitched roofed link to kitchen. Service courtyard
to rear; wall with pair of Tudor-arched openings.
Interior: largely complete early C19 fixtures and fittings. 4-panelled Tudor-
arched doorways with trefoil-panelled spandrels and moulded architraves. Marble
chimneypieces. Moulded cornices throughout. Fine library with curved walls, curved
grained doors in each corner, wainscot panelling, window seat and large neo Jacobean
panelling. Curving single-flight cantilevered staircase with open string, cut
brackets, barleysugar balusters (one per tread), moulded handrail and wreathed newel
oval top light with coving and decorative plasterwork.
Former conservatory: to left of entrance; much used C17 joinery, including back
staircase with turned balusters, moulded handrail and carving; fireplace with C17
ovolo-moulded wooden lintel and C17 fireplace.
The Revd. W. S. Halliday acquired the Glenthorne estate in 1829 and began building
the house soon afterwards. In the hills above the house there is an inscribed stone
marking the location of the Revd. Halliday's decision to build Glenthorne, known
locally as the 'decision stone'. It was not located at time of survey (July 1987).
He was much influenced in the design of the house, and the designs of other estate
buildings, by the buildings illustrated in P. F. Robinson's. Rural Architecture; or
a Series of Designs for Ornamental Cottages, published in 1823, his copy of which
is still in the possession of the Halliday family (at the time of survey). The
house stands in ornamental gardens at the front of the hills which come down to the
coast at this point. The estate buildings also include an ice house and lime kilns
which are situated over the county boundary in Somerset.and are included on the list
for the parish of Oare.
Much information supplied by Mr. A. J. B. Halliday and Mr H. Mellor of the National
Trust Bo.E, Howard Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600 -
1840 (1978), p. 700; Burkes Landed Gentry 18th Ed. Vol 3 (1972), p. 419.
Sources: P F Robinson, Rural Architecture: or a series of designs for Ornamental
Cottages (1823); N Pevsner, Buildings of England, North Devon. p.119; Howard Colvin,
A BiographicalDictionary of British Architects. 1600-1840 (1978), p.700; Burke's
Landed Gentry 18th Ed. Vol.3 (1972), p.419. Much information supplied by Mr A J H
Halliday and Mr H Mellor of the National Trust.
Listing NGR: SS7987849618
