Today we will be looking at Polebarn House as part of our series on Brilliant Builings.
The building is built with two storeys, an attic and a basement with its front entrance on to Polebarn Road. The frontage of the house is made of ashlar stone like many of its contemporary buildings like the Lloyds bank building. It was built in 1789 and was commissioned by the Reverand John Clark who bought the land off of Mr Hart. Clark was he first pastor of the Tabernacle Church. He was versed in astronomy and had his own observatory at his residence Polebarn House. He also built and installed an organ which now is kept in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. It once possessed a miniature country-house garden – with a grotto, lake and gazebo and, at the rear, a music room which is now the Masonic Temple. This garden was built to become a ‘miniature’ Stourhead, but these gardens have since become smaller as parts of the property were sold off.
In 1808 John Clark died and his wife Catherine continued to live at the property until she died in 1826, at which point their son Norris inherited the house. Norris built and operated Castle Court Mills in 1815 and in 1822 went into partnership with William Perkins, his brother-in-law, to form the firm Clark & Perkins which existed until 1839. Norris was known to be a close friend of the famous poet George Crabbe who would often visit him at Polebarn House. Norris Clark died in 1869 and his youngest son Henry Clark, solicitor at Clark and Collins, inherited Polebarn House. He lived in the house with his wife until his own death in 1886 and the house was passed on to his son Henry Attwood Clark. This would mark the end of the Clark family ownership as Henry sold the house to Emily Mackay,the wife of William Mackay, in 1886. Emily died in 1890 and William continued to live in Polebarn House until his death in 1920.
The house and surrounding property was bought by Wiltshire County Council in 1921 for £1,950 (£80,214.81 in modern terms). The sold off parts of the property including areas which would later become the police station and the Masonic Hall. After they purchased the property, they sold off the organ for £60 (£2,468.15 in modern terms). In 1939 the building housed the County Agricultural Education Department, as well as later being used for Children’s Services. The house was sold by the County and became the Polebarn House Hotel in 1978.
