The garden (south) facade, with conservatory on left. From a 1905 postcard.
Built / Designed For: John Damer
House & Family History: Came House is located in Winterborne Came, whose name originates from a winterborne (a stream or river that's dry in the summer months) that runs through the settlement, and from the town of Caen in France (the settlement was once owned by the Abbey of St. Stephen in Caen). With the exception of 19th century interior alterations, and the addition of the conservatory in 1840, Came House is all of a piece. The house is an expression of a single phase of taste, presumably, in some part, that of John Damer (1720-83), who funded the building of the house with the fortune created by his grandfather, the Cromwellian Joseph Damer, who decamped to Ireland at the Restoration, where he made a fortune by "usury and speculation." Came is a classically-designed rectangular house faced in Portland stone and topped with balustrades. The palace-like north facade, facing the park, is dated 1754, but the interiors, by Vile and Cobb of London, complete with lovely English Rococo plaster ceilings, weren't completed until 1762. A service block is connected to the east of the house by a low passageway. John Damer was the younger brother of Joseph Damer, who purchased Milton Abbey and became 1st Baron Milton and 1st Earl of Dorchester (he also built Dorchester House in Mayfair, today the site of the Dorchester Hotel). Among the memorials in the village church of nearby Blandford St. Mary is that of Francis Cartwright, who was so proud of his work at Came that he had the house depicted on the scroll of his memorial. Came House was one of the inspirations for Quinlan Terry's nearby Ferne Park.
Comments: Nikolaus Pevsner called Came "The mid-18th century masterpiece of...Francis Cartwright."
Architect: Charles Fowler
Date: 1840sArchitect: Francis Cartwright
Date: 1754Country Life: CXIII, 490, 572, 1953.
Title: Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840, A - SOFTBACK
Author: Colvin, Howard
Year Published: 1995
Reference: pg. 231
Publisher: New Haven: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300072074
Book Type: Softback
Title: Country Houses of Dorset
Author: Oswald, Arthur
Year Published: 1935
Publisher: London: Country Life Ltd.
ISBN: NA
Book Type: Hardback
Title: Country Life: 100 Favourite Houses
Author: Green, Candida Lycett
Year Published: 1999
Publisher: London: Boxtree
ISBN: 0752213334
Book Type: Hardback
House Listed: Grade I
Park Listed: Not Listed
Current Seat / Home of: Morag MacGregor
Past Seat / Home of: John Damer, until 1783; Col. George Dawson-Damer, 19th century; George Lionel Henry Seymour Dawson-Damer, 5th Earl of Portarlington, 19th century. Lady Christian Martin, 20th century.
Current Ownership Type: Individual / Family Trust
Primary Current Ownership Use: Private Home
Ownership Details: The house can be booked for weddings
House Open to Public: By Appointment
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://camehouse.co.uk/
Historic Houses Member: No