Burton Pynsent House
| Burton Pynsent House | |
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 Location of Burton Pynsent House in Somerset
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| Location | Curry Rivel, Somerset, England, U.K. |
| Coordinates | 51°00′57″N 2°53′40″W / 51.01583°N 2.89444°WCoordinates: 51°00′57″N 2°53′40″W / 51.01583°N 2.89444°W |
| Built | 1756 |
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Listed Building – Grade II*
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| Official name: Burton Pynsent House | |
| Designated | 17 April 1959 |
| Reference no. | 431249 |
Burton Pynsent House is a historic country-house in Britain, situated in the parish of Curry Rivel, Somerset, England. It is a Grade II* listed building. The house was built in stages between 1565 and 1765, when it was bequeathed to William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham by William Pynsent, who did not want the house to go to Lord North. Pitt had an additional wing built to a design by Lancelot Brown, and the subsequent owner demolished everything but this wing in 1805.
The house was extended around this wing in the 20th century, overlooking the 98 hectares (240 acres) of formal gardens and parkland. To the north west of the house is Burton Pynsent Monument, a 140 feet (43 m) column with an urn finial, built to commemorate Pynsent's generosity to Pitt.
The house at Burton Pynsent was built section by section over the period of many years. Construction was commenced by Marmaduke Jennings in approximately 1565 and was continued by the Jennings family throughout the 17th century. In 1679 the house passed to Sir William Pynsent, who had married into the family. Pynsent's son bequeathed the house to his political idol, William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, despite never meeting him. His intention was to disinherit Lord North, a relative of his wife, who had supported a tax on Somerset cider which Pynsent disagreed with, and which Pitt had blocked. Pynsent died in 1765 and his relatives were unhappy at being left just 1,000 guineas each, and so unsuccessfully contested the will over the following six years.
Pitt immediately commissioned Lancelot Brown to design a monument in memory of Pynsent's generosity, built by Philip Pear at a cost of £2,000 (equivalent to £246,546 in 2015). Brown also advised on the landscaping of the parkland and possibly designed the wing that Pitt built on the eastern end of the house. Despite complaints from the Pynsent family, Pitt started landscaping the gardens and other works in 1766.
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