Bratton House is a

grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

in Melbourne Street, Bratton, Wiltshire, England. The house dates from 1715 and was built for Philip Ballard. It was enlarged in 1826 for the Seagram family with additional alterations in 1915 and the 1930s.

The house (together with other property in Bratton) belonged to the diplomat

Horace James Seymour Sir Horace James Seymour (26 February 1885 – 10 September 1978) was a British diplomat who served in Washington, D.C., Tehran, the Hague, Rome, and Chungking. He was Principal Private Secretary to the British Foreign Secretary and Assistant Un ...

and his wife between 1935 and his death in 1979. In their first year there, they added a Garden House designed by

Norman Evill Norman Adolphus Evill FRIBA (1873 – 5 August 1958) was an English architect and draughtsman, apprenticed to Edwin Lutyens. Life and works Evill was born in the village of Hewelsfield, Gloucestershire, in 1873. His father, Walter, was also an ...

, an assistant of

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...

, and the dining room and State Bedroom were redesigned by Edith Bowes-Lyon.Bratton House
at brattonhistory.co.uk, accessed 6 August 2018 During the later years of the Second World War, Bratton House was occupied by St Mary's Convent School, evacuated from

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

. Soon after the death of Sir Horace Seymour, the main house was sold to Spencer Douglas Loch, 4th Baron Loch. He died in 1991, and in 1997 his widow sold the property to Paul Langridge, whose executors sold it again in 2004.

References

Country houses in Wiltshire Georgian architecture in Wiltshire Grade II* listed buildings in Wiltshire Grade II* listed houses Houses completed in 1715 Bratton, Wiltshire {{Wiltshire-struct-stub