Earlier Houses: There was an earlier medieval house that was probably replaced by the current house.

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 facade 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 successful 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).

Comments: Brympton d'Evercy is frequently called one of the loveliest manor houses in England. Christopher Hussey described it as "The most incomparable house in Britain, the one which created the greatest impression and summarises so exquisitely English country life qualities."

Country Life: XXII, 774, 1907. LXI, 718, 762, 775 [Furniture & Pictures], 1927.

House Listed: Grade I

Park Listed: Grade II

Current Seat / Home of: Weeks family

Past Seat / Home of: d'Evercy family, 13th century. Sydenham family, circa 1430-1722. Thomas Fane, 8th Earl of Westmorland, 18th century; Lady Georgiana Fane, 18th century. Clive-Ponsonby-Fane family here from 1731 until 1992.

Current Ownership Type: Individual / Family Trust

Primary Current Ownership Use: Private Home

Ownership Details: Available for weddings and receptions.

House Open to Public: By Appointment

Phone: 01935-862-528

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://www.brymptonhouse.co.uk/

Awards: Christie's/HHA Garden of the Year Award 1989.

Historic Houses Member: No