Today we will be looking at Lloyds Bank and Wyke House as part of our series on Brilliant Buildings.
Lloyds Bank
The origins of Lloyds Bank
The origins of this building are somewhat of mystery as we cannot be certain exactly when and by whom this building was built. One option is Thomas Cooper, a local clothier who bought a house in Fore Street, Trowbridge, in 1675 and the house next door to it in 1691. At any point after the second house was purchased, he could have had the current building built. The other option is his son and successor John who took over in 1724. Curiously the building is only one room deep despite its very grand frontage and the older building behind remained until late in the 20th century.
The house’s frontage almost perfectly mirrors the design of Dyrham Park in Gloucester. Talman designed Dyrham Park in 1695, and construction began in 1700. In fact, the Trowbridge façade presents Talman’s original Dyrham design more definitively and logically than the final Dyrham design, which Vitruvius Britannicus published in its 1717 volume. The Trowbridge builders also put in the blind balustrading correctly, which the ones at Dyrham House failed to do. This does suggest that a later date for the construction is more likely, with Cooper, either the elder or the younger, having seen the building at Dyrham or having seen the publication with the house design.
Ownership
The Cooper family continued to own the home until 1783 when it was sold to Samuel Bythesea, another wealthy clothier. Samuel lived there until 1816 at which point it was sold to Thomas Stillman, also a clothier. He rented it out to various wealthy tenants until 1866 when Wiltshire and Dorset Banking Ltd rented it, before purchasing it in 1876 for £2,200 (£213,000 in current times). The building became Lloyds bank in 1914 and the extensive gardens were converted into car parks in the 1950’s. The building remains a bank with the ceilings and panels having been retained during many refurbishments.
Wyke House
The land where Wyke House once stood exchanged hands among many wealthy landowners, with no clear signs of any major homes on the site. We do not have a firm date for the house’s construction, but 1616 is a suggested tentative date. Sir Henry Vyner built it.
After later refurbishments, the builders reused carved stone panels and 17th-century oak paneling from the earlier house. One stone panel dates to 1616 and features a baton, along with a saltire engrailed between two Cornish choughs at the top. Two other panels also existed, with one dating to 1668.
During the late 1660’s transferred to the Bythesea family. It burnt down and was rebuilt in 1675 in a similar style to its predecessor. The property was sold to the Clark family in 1833 who made various improvements to the house. The 1865 house was wider and elaborate but still included a great many design features from the original building.
In 1933 the property was owned by J Gordon Hammond of Mcalls. After his death in 1972 the contents sold and was severally vandalized and demolished as a consequence. The site the house stood on lies in the open space between the Foxglove Drive play area and in the front gardens of the houses on Tudor Drive. The footpath from Wyke Road to this area lies along what was the tree lined driveway to the house.
