Home > New Search > Brympton d'Evercy (Brympton House)
Brympton d'Evercy (Brympton House) 
BRIMP-tun DEV-er-see
near Yeovil, Somerset, England
Circa Date: 1220 core w/later alterations and additions
Status: Fully Extant
BRIMP-tun DEV-er-see
near Yeovil, Somerset, England
Circa Date: 1220 core w/later alterations and additions
Status: Fully Extant
Special Info / Location/ Date
Special Info
Phonetic Pronunciation of House Name
BRIMP-tun DEV-er-see
Location
Country
England
District Today
Somerset
Historic County
Somersetshire
City / Town / Village
near Yeovil
Latitude
50.936111
Longitude
-2.683889
Date
Start Date
Completion Date
Circa Date
1220 core w/later alterations and additions
Images
Early 20th Century Postcard
Architects
| Designed | Garden Front for Sir John Posthumous Sydenham |
| Date | 1670s |
Extant / Listed / References
Extant
Extant Type
Fully Extant
Extant Details
Listed
House Listed As
Grade I
Gardens Listed As
Grade II*
On SAVE Britain's Heritage's List of Buildings at Risk
No
Country House: Yes
References
Vitruvius Britannicus
Vitruvius Scoticus
J.B. Burke (Burke's Visitation of Seats)
Country Life
XXII, 774, 1907. LXI, 718, 762, 775 [Furniture & Pictures], 1927.
J.P. Neale (Neale's Views of Seats)
Access / Ownership / Seat
Access
Open to Public Please note: Houses listed as being open "By Appointment" are usually country house hotels or B&Bs.
By Appointment
Historic Houses Association Member
Phone Number If calling from the U.S., delete the first "0" in British numbers.
08432-892-957
Fax Number
Email
Website
Awards
Christie's/HHA Garden of the Year Award 1989.
Current Ownership
Current Ownership Type
Individual / Family Trust
Primary Current Ownership Use
Private Home
Current Ownership Use / Details
Available for weddings and receptions.
Seat ("Seat" is loosely defined
as any family that occupied the house for a period of 2 years or more)
Today Seat of
Weeks family
A Past Seat(s) of
d'Evercy family, 13th century. Sydenham family, circa 1430-1722. Earl of Westmorland. Lady Georgiana Fane, 18th century. Fane (Clive-Ponsonby-Fane) family, 1731-1992.
Possible (Unsure) Seat of
History / Gardens & Park / Movies
History
Earlier House(s) / Building(s)
There was an medieval house that was probably replaced by the current house.
House Replaced By
Built / Designed For
House & Family History
The original medieval house that once stood here is long gone, but it was probably a long courtyard house with a gateway on the site of the entrance to the current house. The d'Evercys were a Norman family who came here in 1220. The small house next to the Church is a rare example of a 15th century residence; it appears to have been in use about 1480 as a Dower House for Joan Sydenham, whose father purchased the Estate on her marriage some 50 years earlier. The Sydenhams remained at Brympton until 1722, a stay of almost 300 years. The garden front of the current house (of ham stone) was built for Sir John Posthumous Sydenham in the 1670s by an unknown architect in a provincial version of the Palladian style of Inigo Jones. The inside of Brympton boasts a great parade of state rooms in the Versailles manner, with wide double doors down the center of the enfilade. Francis Fane, a successfully lawyer, purchased the Estate in 1731, whereupon it descended through the Earls of Westmorland to Lady Georgiana Fane. Lady Georgiana has gone down in history as the young woman who rejected the hand of a "lowly soldier" who later rose to become the 1st Duke of Wellington. Georgiana remained unmarried and she and the Duke kept up a life-long correspondence. The Fane family let the House to Clare School in 1966; then, in 1974, Charles Clive-Ponsonby-Fane returned to Brympton and again made it the family home. The Fanes then sold the House (the Estate was retained) in 1992 to Judge Weeks. The Fane family continued to farm the surrounding land until 2004, when they applied for planning permission to develop the part of the Estate nearest to Yeovil as a business park (this spot is about 300 yards from the House).
Collections
This field lists art objects that are currently or were previously in the collection of the house.
For information on the history of British currency, click here. To use a chart that allows you to compare the purchasing power of money In Great Britain from 1264 to any other year, including the present, click here. To use a currency conversion to see the current value of the British pound, click here.
For information on the history of British currency, click here. To use a chart that allows you to compare the purchasing power of money In Great Britain from 1264 to any other year, including the present, click here. To use a currency conversion to see the current value of the British pound, click here.
Comments
Brympton d'Evercy is frequently called one of the loveliest manor houses in England.
Gardens & Park
Garden, Park, Follies and Outbuildings
Chapel & Church
Movies
Location for Movies / TV
"Mansfield Park" (1983 - BBC TV mini series, as Sotherton Court). "Middlemarch" (1994 - BBC TV mini series). "Restoration" (1995).
Bibliography
| Author | Sayer, Michael |
| Year Published | 1993 |
| Reference |
| Author | Green, Candida Lycett |
| Year Published | 1999 |
| Reference |
| Author | Littlejohn, David |
| Year Published | 1997 |
| Reference |
| Author | Fedden, Robin; Kenworthy-Browne, John |
| Year Published | 1979 |
| Reference | pgs. 87-88 |
Related Resources
There are no documents associated with this house.
