Description

SW 62 SE CURY

3/11 Bonython Manor House (formerly listed
- as Bonython House)

10.7.57 II*

Country house. Circa 1790 probably incorporating walls of earlier house in rear wing
and possibly on old foundations at front. Built for John Trevenen, possibly by
William Wood, a pupil of Thomas Edwards. Granite ashlar to front, otherwise rendered
and painted. Hipped tiled roofs with parapet to front, granite ashlar chimneys; one
stack over each side wall and 2 lateral stacks over right-hand wall of rear wing.
Overall L-shaped plan of double depth house to front and service wing to rear of
right-hand side. Main house has 2 equal reception rooms flanking central entrance
hall leading to large central rear stair hall with secondary reception rooms to left
and right. Through passage separates main house from 3-storey service wing 2-room
plan deep and 1-room wide with service stair near angle. The service wing is
possibly the surviving upper end (hall and inner room) of a circa late medieval house
with 2 lateral hearths but remodelled and heightened in the late C18. A circa 1805
picture shows a narrower low thatched extension at the rear end of the wing, since
removed.
2 storeys over basement. Symmetrical 2:1:2 bay south-west front with central
entrance bay slightly broken forward and surmounted by triangular pediment. Basement
as plinth with dressed granite lintels over windows. Shallow arches with projecting
keystones to bays left and right. Parapet over moulded cornice, plain coping and
ball finials over corners. Central bay has wide doorway spanned by elliptical arch
rusticated jambstones and voussoirs; double panelled doors flanked by original
patterned glazed sidelights and with original spoked and elliptically glazed fanlight.
Venetian window over with fanlight glazed lunette. Otherwise original 12-pane
hornless sashes with much crown glass except for later copies to basement. A flight
of converging granite steps bridges basement courtyard to front doorway, wrought iron
balustrade to either side adjoining stanchions linked by chains surmounting granite
coped basement courtyard retaining wall.
Rear has C18 sashes with glazing bars, Venetian window to main stair and round-headed
window to service stair.
Interior retains most of its C18 carpentry and joinery details and plasterwork, much
of which is of a very fine quality. Highly enriched complex moulded cornices
to front reception rooms and entrance hall; panelled walls and elliptical arched
niche to right-hand room; distyle in antae elliptical arched doorway with fluted
columns and acanthus capitals between entrance hall and stair hall. Geometric
cantilevered open-well open-string stick baluster stair with mahogany handrail
wreathed over curtail bottom step; treads with cornices, shaped bracket ends and
guttae. Ceiling over stair with modillions to cornice. Moulded cornices to
principal chambers including first floor chamber in service wing and chair rails to
most rooms. Original chimney-pieces in 2 of the chambers, otherwise fireplaces are
later replacements including fine circa mid C18 chimney-piece inserted to basement
and circa 1840's chimney-piece with ornate iron grate in left-hand reception room.
Original doors with door furniture and window shutters with inner bead moulding.
Fanlight in internal partition between inner vestibule and room behind right-hand
room; wine cellar behind left-hand basement with its original tiered niches, and
adjoining to right is a pantry with dowelled ventilator over partition. Rear ground
floor service room has large lateral hearth with bread oven.
The Bonythons are first recorded in 1277 and can trace a continuous line of descent
from 1370. Reconstructed circa 1600 by Reskmer Bonython and sold by Richard Bonython
in 1720. Bought by Captain Joseph Lyle in 1837, 2 descendants of whom (sisters)
married 2 brothers of the well known architectural family, which included James Wyatt
PRA and Sir Jeffrey Wyattville among its members, and is still held by a descendant
of the same family, but the name later reverting to Lyle under a name and arms clause
condition made in a will dated 1837.

Listing NGR: SW6965421138

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17556006

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings