| Burton Pynsent House | |
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Location of Burton Pynsent House in Somerset
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| Location: | Curry Rivel, Somerset, England |
| Coordinates: | |
| Built: | 1756 |
| Listed Building – Grade II* | |
| Official name: Burton Pynsent House | |
| Designated: | 17 April 1959[1] |
| Reference #: | 431249 |
Burton Pynsent House is a historic building in the parish of Curry Rivel, Somerset, England. It is a Grade II* listed building.[1]
The house was built in 1765 for William Pitt after he inherited the estate from Sir William Pynsent.[2] It formed part of a wing on a larger earlier house, that was demolished around 1805.
The grounds were laid out in the mid 18th century by Pitt and Lancelot Brown and include early 20th century formal gardens designed by Harold Peto.[3] The Chatham Vase is a stone sculpture commissioned as a memorial to William Pitt the Elder by his wife, Hester, Countess of Chatham. It was originally erected at their house in Burton Pynsent, in 1781, and moved to the grounds of Chevening House in 1934, where it currently resides.
The 140 feet (43 m) Pynsent Column (also known as the Curry Rivel Column, Burton Pynsent Monument, Pynsent Steeple or Cider Monument)[4] stands on Troy Hill, a spur of high ground about 700 m north-east of the house. It was designed in the 18th century by Capability Brown for William Pitt.[5][6] It was restored in the 1990s by the John Paul Getty Trust and English Heritage.[4]