Philipps House
Encyclopedia
English country house
The English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a London house. This allowed to them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these people, the term distinguished between town and country...
at Dinton
Dinton, Wiltshire
Dinton is a village in Wiltshire, England, on the B3089 road about 8 miles west of Salisbury. The population was 597 at the 2001 census.-Present day:...
, near Salisbury
Salisbury
Salisbury is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England and the only city in the county. It is the second largest settlement in the county...
, Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The house was designed by Jeffry Wyatt, later Sir Jeffry Wyatville for William Wyndham, and was built between 1813-16 on the site of an earlier, demolished seventeenth-century house, Dinton House, which had been the Wyndham family home. The new house was also called Dinton House, and was known as this until 1916 when it was bought by Bertram Philipps, and was renamed after him. In 1943 Philipps gave the house and 250 acres (1 km²) of parkland to the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
.
Chilmark Quarries
Chilmark Quarries is a 9.65 hectare biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest, in the ravine south of the village of Chilmark in Wiltshire, notified in 1977....
, a local building stone also used for Salisbury Cathedral
Salisbury Cathedral
Salisbury Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican cathedral in Salisbury, England, considered one of the leading examples of Early English architecture....
, and Wyatt was believed to have based his design on Pythouse
Pythouse
Pythouse, sometimes spelt Pyt House and pronounced pit-house, is a country house near Tisbury in Wiltshire, in the west of England....
, some seven miles (11 km) away at Newtown, near Tisbury
Tisbury, Wiltshire
The large village of Tisbury lies approximately west of Salisbury in the English county of Wiltshire.With a population at the 2001 census of 2,056 it is an important local centre for communities around the upper River Nadder and Vale of Wardour...
. The house is two-storied with symmetrically set chimney stacks and a central lantern. The main (south) front has nine bays with an Ionic
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
portico. The rooms are planned around a spacious square hall. The house is one of the first in England to have a central heating system installed. This was achieved by pumping hot air from a boiler in the basement into the stair well. Now open to the public, the house contains an impressive collection of Regency
Regency architecture
The Regency style of architecture refers primarily to buildings built in Britain during the period in the early 19th century when George IV was Prince Regent, and also to later buildings following the same style...
furniture and furnishings. The house is Grade II* listed.
The parkland that surrounds the house is still known as Dinton Park, and has recently been restored.