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
Stinchcombe
Stinchcombe is a small village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England on the B4060 road between Dursley and North Nibley. The church is called Saint Quiricus and Saint Julietta, St Cyr's and its churchyard contains 40–60 gravestones. Th ...
on the
Cotswold Edge
The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale.
The area is defined by the bedrock of Juras ...
in
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
, England. A
Grade II* listed building
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 ...
, in the mid-20th century the court was home to the novelist
Evelyn Waugh
Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires ''Decli ...
.
History
The present house was built by John Wallington at the very end of the 18th century. It incorporates elements of an older building.
Evelyn Waugh lived at Piers Court from 1937 to 1956, and wrote many of his best known works there, including ''
Scoop
Scoop, Scoops or The scoop may refer to:
Objects
* Scoop (tool), a shovel-like tool, particularly one deep and curved, used in digging
* Scoop (machine part), a component of machinery to carry things
* Scoop stretcher, a device used for casualty ...
'', ''
Brideshead Revisited
''Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder'' is a novel by English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. It follows, from the 1920s to the early 1940s, the life and romances of the protagonist Charles ...
'', ''
Men at Arms
A man-at-arms was a soldier of the High Medieval to Renaissance periods who was typically well-versed in the use of arms and served as a fully-armoured heavy cavalryman. A man-at-arms could be a knight, or other nobleman, a member of a knig ...
'' and ''
Officers and Gentlemen
''Officers and Gentlemen'' is a 1955 novel by the British novelist Evelyn Waugh.
''Sword of Honour'' trilogy
''Officers and Gentlemen'' is the second novel in Waugh's ''Sword of Honour'' trilogy, the author's look at the Second World War. The no ...
''. In 1955 Waugh was enraged when two journalists from the
Daily Express
The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...
,
Nancy Spain
Nancy Brooker Spain (13 September 1917 – 21 March 1964) was a prominent English broadcaster and journalist. She was a columnist for the '' Daily Express'', ''She'' magazine, and the '' News of the World'' in the 1950s and 1960s. She also appea ...
and Noel Buxton arrived at Piers Court, having previously been declined an interview. An acrimonious and public correspondence saw Waugh successfully sue Spain for
libel
Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
. But his enjoyment of the house was marred and he sold it the following year.
Waugh’s library at Piers Court was sold by a subsequent owner and the fixtures and fittings, including the prominent bookcases, were sent to the US with the intention of reconstructing the library in a museum.
In December 2022, the court was sold by auction, for £3.16m. The sales arrangements were unusual, as the presence of sitting tenants precluded potential purchasers from viewing the property.
Architecture and description
The house is built of local stone with the main block consisting of seven
bays
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...
and two
storeys
A storey (British English) or story (American English) is any level part of a building with a floor that could be used by people (for living, work, storage, recreation, etc.). Plurals for the word are ''storeys'' (UK) and ''stories'' (US).
Th ...
.
Historic England
Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...
's listing record notes that this central block, designed in a
Palladian
Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...
style and dating from the late 18th century, abuts a lower wing with earlier origins, probably of the 16th century. The
pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedimen ...
below the roof is surmounted by an "elaborate"
coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...
. David Verey and Alan Brooks, in their 2000 revised edition of ''Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds'', in the Pevsner Buildings of England series, describe Piers Court as a "dignified and elegant house." It was designated a
Grade II* listed building
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 ...
in 1952. The adjacent stable block is listed at Grade II.
Notes
References
Sources
*
*
* {{cite book
, last1 = Verey
, first1 = David
, last2 = Brooks
, first2 = Alan
, year = 2000
, orig-year = 1970
, title = Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds
, series =
The Buildings of England
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...