Lytes Cary - The House

The House

The unusual name derives from the Lyte family who lived at Lytes Cary for over four centuries, and the River Cary which flows nearby. The first documentary evidence is from 1285 when it was known as Kari. William le Lyte was a feudal tenant of the estate in 1286, and the Lyte family occupied and added to the house until the mid 18th century. The earliest surviving part of the manor and associated buildings is the chapel, which dates to the mid-14th century. The Great Hall was built in the mid-15th century, and in the early 16th century the entrance porch and oriel room was added to the eastern side of the hall, and the great parlour and little parlour to the south of the hall, with bedrooms above. Sometime after the Lyte family sold the Manor in 1755, tenants moved in and the house gradually fell into disrepair. In 1810 it was reported by a neighbour that the north range 'had lately been destroyed and a farm house built on the site', (this north range is dated by architectural historians to the late 18th century) and by the time John Buckler came to draw the house in 1835 the west range had also disappeared.

In 1907 Sir Walter Jenner – son of the late Sir William Jenner, physician to Queen Victoria – purchased Lytes Cary. At the time of his arrival the Great Hall was being used as a cider store and the Great Parlour was full of farm equipment. Jenner's brother Leopold had just bought and started to restore Avebury Manor in Wiltshire, and Jenner drew inspiration from his brother's work there. He set about restoring Lytes Cary and decorating the interiors in period style, including fine 17th-century and 18th-century oak furniture, antique tapestries and fabrics modelled after medieval textiles. He had the west range rebuilt in a plain William and Mary style by the architect C.E. Ponting, but left the historic core of the house mostly untouched.

Jenner left the manor to the National Trust after he died in 1948. The National Trust opened the west range as a holiday rental property in 2006. Only the older parts of the house are open to the public. Photography is permitted inside provided no flash is used.

The house and chapel are built of the local blue lias stone. Parts of the house have mellow honey-coloured Ham stone dressings, especially around windows and at quoins; the later 18th century additions have brick dressings. The roofs are stone tiled with some later terracotta tiles.