Pyrland Hall is a country house near

Cheddon Fitzpaine Cheddon Fitzpaine is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated on the Quantock Hills north of Taunton. The village is situated near the Bristol and Exeter Railway, the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, and the River Tone and has ...

in the English county of

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

. It is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

Pyrland Hall was built around 1760 for Sir William Yea of the

Yea baronets The Yea baronetcy, of Pyrland in the County of Somerset, was a title in the Baronetage of Great Britain. It was created on 18 June 1759 for William Yea, who was High Sheriff of Somerset in 1760. The title became extinct on the death of the third ...

. It is a brick building with

Bath stone Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate originally obtained from the Middle Jurassic aged Great Oolite Group of the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its h ...

dressings under hipped slate roofs. After the death of Sir Henry Lacy Yea, 3rd Baronet in 1864, the house was sold to Arthur Malet. It was then acquired by a Mr G. R. Withington. From 1911 it was the home of Colonel Ernest St. Clair Pemberton who lived at the hall until his death in 1950.

James Lees-Milne (George) James Henry Lees-Milne (6 August 1908 – 28 December 1997) was an English writer and expert on country houses, who worked for the National Trust from 1936 to 1973. He was an architectural historian, novelist and biographer. His extens ...

recorded his unsuccessful attempts to arrange the gifting of the hall to the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

, and his impressions of the owner, in his volume ''Some Country Houses and their Owners''; "... a horrible day with Colonel Pemberton. He is a fiendish old imbecile hohas an inordinate opinion of himself and his own judgement." During the early years of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the house and gardens were used by the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

as the main headquarters for

VIII Corps 8th Corps, Eighth Corps, or VIII Corps may refer to: * VIII Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French army during the Napoleonic Wars * VIII Army Corps (German Confederation) * VIII Corps (German Empire), a unit of the Imperial German Arm ...

, which was formed to command the defence of Somerset,

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

and

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

. The rear headquarters were established at

Hestercombe House Hestercombe House is a historic country house in the parish of West Monkton in the Quantock Hills, near Taunton in Somerset, England. The house is a Grade II* listed building and the estate is Grade I listed on the English Heritage Register ...

, with personnel and logistics staff. Since 1953, the

King's Hall School King's College Preparatory School is a co-educational day and boarding preparatory school. The school is located within the parish of Cheddon Fitzpaine, just north of Taunton, Somerset, in the West of England. It is housed in the Grade II list ...

has been housed in the hall. The hall sits within a estate, parts of which have been made into playing fields, and is surrounded by

-owned farmland.

References

Sources

* * {{coord, 51.0428, N, 3.1034, W, region:GB-BKM_type:landmark, display=title Grade II* listed buildings in Taunton Deane Grade II* listed educational buildings Buildings and structures in Taunton Deane