Built / Designed For: Charles Hoare

House & Family History: Built in the early 19th century to the designs of John Nash for Charles Hoare (of the famous banking family), Luscombe Castle was one of the earliest Gothic Revival houses in Britain. With its exterior sporting a castellated tower and walls, the simple and elegant Neoclassical interiors (arranged around a central lobby beneath the tower), come as a bit of a surprise, though there is a bow to the castle design with Gothic windows. During World War II Luscombe was used as a girls' evacuation center.

Garden & Outbuildings: Humphry Repton, who frequently worked with Nash, designed a landscape in the Picturesque style (called "unadorned nature") for Charles Hoare. Repton's designs at Luscombe were the start of what is today internationally famous as the British landscape garden. The Stables are Grade I-listed.

John Bernard (J.B.) Burke, published under the title of A Visitation of the Seats and Arms of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland, among other titles: 2.S. Vol. I, p. 228, 1854.

John Preston (J.P.) Neale, published under the title of Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, among other titles: Vol. I, 1818.

Country Life: CXIX, 292, 336, 1956.

House Listed: Grade I

Park Listed: Grade I

Current Seat / Home of: Hoare family; here since 1804.

Past Seat / Home of: Charles Hoare, 19th century.

Current Ownership Type: Individual / Family Trust

Primary Current Ownership Use: Private Home

House Open to Public: No

Historic Houses Member: No