Brownston House

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Brownston House, also called Brownstone House, is a Grade I listed building on New Park Street in Devizes, Wiltshire, England. It dates from the early 1700s and is built of dark rubbed brick with two storeys plus an attic and basement. The front is wide and symmetrical, with a central projection, a stone plinth, chamfered quoins, and an elaborate stone cornice. The main entrance has a tall eight‑panel door in a plain frame with a stone surround. The roof is tiled and hipped, with three dormer windows, and the brick chimneys have stone quoins. It was listed as Grade I in 1972.

The house was built around 1700 for Francis Merewether, who was High Sheriff of Wiltshire in 1700 and served as Member of Parliament for Devizes in 1701 and again from 1703 to 1705. In 1720 it was occupied by Thomas Browne, a barrister, who added Bath stone to give the house its present form; his initials appear on the rainwater pipes. He was living there at least until 1736.

From about 1740 to 1779 the house belonged to the Garth family. John Garth (1701–1764) was MP for Devizes from 1740 to his death. His son Charles Garth became MP for Devizes from 1764 to 1780 and used Brownston House as his home from 1764 to about 1779 before moving to Walthamstow. In 1779 Wadham Locke and his wife Anne Sutton moved in, and their son Wadham Locke (1779–1833), who would become an MP, was born there in October 1779.

By 1839 the surgeon Charles Trinder lived at Brownston House, and his family were there in the early 1840s. The Misses Bidwells’ Ladies Boarding School occupied the house from 1859 to 1901. After 1901 the two unmarried daughters of Henry S. Hilman, a barrister, lived there until about 1929. Alterations by architect Harold Brakspear were planned in 1901, and the plans are in the Wiltshire archives. Miss Bertha M. Hilman remained in the house until 1929, after which it became a nurses’ hostel for Devizes Hospital and later fell into disrepair.

The building was then bought by Kennet District Council and restored. It served as a doctor’s surgery and as offices for Wiltshire County Council’s Social Services before being sold in 2000 to Renelec, a plumbing and heating company, to be used again as offices.