History of Compton Castle Estate

The Compton Castle Estate is situated within the village of Compton Pauncefoot, historically the estate encompasses other local villages too. 

These being Blackford, Maperton, Charlton Horethorne, Woolston and South Cadbury in the immediate area, all found on local ordinance survey maps.

More recently the land holding has grown & additional farms and farmland have been added, they now stretch to Podimore in the West & Marston Magna in the East. The land holding is now in excess of four thousand acres.

John Hubert Hunt (1774-1830) built Compton Castle, on Parkland inherited from his ancestors, using the architect John Finden ( 1782-1849) from Bath, who came from a family of successful line engravers, who supervised many studio commissions in steel plates to produce elaborate & precise designs during the early Regency period, publishing many books and drawings, in historical archives today. 

Compton Castle is built from a beautiful golden stone quarried on the Estate, it took 29 years to complete the Castle, using talented stonemasons and craftsmen. The Parkland was beautifully landscaped, and an arboretum created to surround the large heart shaped lake, with teardrop ponds and waterfalls that naturally cascade downward from the natural springs high in the hills tops surrounding the Parkland. A stunning Grotto was built at the entrance to the water features, complete with a Roman style Bath. Within the caves & layers of stone terraced walkways, concealed beneath the natural facade are waterfalls.

Upon John Hubert Hunt’s death in 1830 his Niece inherited the Estate, they had to change their name to comply with the conditions of the vast inheritance. From this point in the Castles rich history it was leased until 1911. The records of who lived in it are vast & illuminating. They vary from Military heroes to Entrepreneurs & Royalty.

Below is the advertisement for Compton Castle as printed in the London Examiner in August 1831.

‘ Its approach is very imposing, and gives promise of all that is shortly realized. It is embosomed amid hanging woods rising in majestic grandeur, and forming a panorama of woodland scenery. In the vale below are the ornamental waters with graceful swans and boats to vary both the scene and amusement. During the Winter there are lots of wildfowl. Cascades and waterfalls are everywhere diversifying the scene, while rocks, which in their outward form would indicate strong symptoms of antiquity, complete the delightful scene and render it so beautiful as really to be an Elysium. The plantations and shrubbery walls are of considerable extent, varied by the maze and wilderness, with the hermitage presiding over them.’

In 1936 William Phelps wrote about Compton Castle in his history of Somerset.