Barrington Court, nr Ilminster, England

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

The site of Barrington Court has been occupied since at least the mid-11th century. The present mansion was begun around 1538 by Henry Daubeney, who had inherited the estate in 1514 and had recently been created Earl of Bridgwater for his service to King Henry VIII. The Earl’s lavish spending led to his bankruptcy, while in 1541 he was implicated in the disgrace of Queen Katherine Howard. He died in 1548, and in 1552 the estate was sold to William Clifton, a London merchant. The house was completed by 1559, but in 1605 the property was sold to Sir Thomas Phelips of neighbouring Montacute House (see description of this site elsewhere in the Register). Phelips sold Barrington to William Strode, a clothier from Shepton Mallet, in 1625. William Strode is said to have restored the house (guidebook), while in 1674 his son, also William Strode, built a large stable block adjacent to the mansion. William Strode II served as MP for Ilchester in 1679, and from 1680 gave his support to the Duke of Monmouth. Barrington continued to be owned by the Strode family until 1745, after which it passed through many hands and declined to the status of a let farmhouse. By the mid-19th century, many internal fittings had been removed, and in the late 19th century the house sank into a state of near dereliction. At the same time, antiquarian interest in properties such as Barrington was growing, and in 1907, on the recommendation of Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, the estate was acquired by the National Trust. The National Trust had only been in existence for twelve years and Barrington was the first country house and garden to come into its care.

The National Trust undertook a programme of repair, much of it funded by Miss J L Woodward, but the cost of maintaining the property remained a problem, so in 1920 it was let to Col Arthur Lyle, a director of the sugar-refining company Tate & Lyle. Col Lyle’s architect, J E Forbes of the partnership Forbes & Tate, prepared a master plan (dated 1917) for transforming the property into a model Arts and Crafts-style estate with new farm buildings, workers’ cottages, and extensive formal walled gardens around the house. The 17th-century stables were converted to domestic use under Forbes’ supervision and renamed Strode House. Forbes consulted Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) about the planting of the proposed gardens, and Col Lyle’s wife visited Miss Jekyll at Munstead Wood, Surrey (see description of this site elsewhere in the Register) (guidebook). The only elements of Forbes’ and Jekyll’s scheme to be implemented in full were the formal gardens to the west of Strode House; other elements of Forbes’ master plan were implemented including a new north approach and forecourt, and the model farm buildings and estate cottages.

Col Lyle died in 1931 and was succeeded as tenant at Barrington by his son Ian, who served as Chairman of Tate & Lyle and was knighted in 1959. During the Second World War the house was occupied by a boys’ preparatory school but the gardens continued to be maintained. In the mid-20th century, Sir Ian and his head gardener, Harry Burton, developed an arboretum to the east of the house. Sir Ian Lyle died in 1978 and the lease passed to his son, Andrew. With his head gardener, Christine Brain, Andrew Lyle continued to develop and restore the gardens, using Forbes’ and Jekyll’s plans as a basis for the work (guidebook). In 1991, Andrew Lyle relinquished the lease of Barrington Court, the management of which reverted to the National Trust. The site remains (2002) in the ownership of the National Trust.