Compton Wynyates

Summary

A Grade I listed Tudor country house in Warwickshire, built from around 1481 with major additions made under Sir William Compton, a close companion of Henry VIII; constructed in glowing raspberry-red brick around a central courtyard with twisted chimneys, turreted gables, and a great hall retaining its original heraldic bay window; still the private home of the Marquess of Northampton and not normally open to the public; used as a filming location for The Black Tent (1955), Carry On Camping (1969), Candleshoe (1977), Death on the Nile (1978), The Mirror Crack’d (1980), and The Tudors (Showtime).

About this location

Compton Wynyates stands in a valley in south Warwickshire, approximately nine miles west of Banbury and eight miles east of Stratford-upon-Avon. The site was held by the Compton family from at least the early 13th century. Sir Edmund Compton, who died around 1493, began constructing a new mansion from approximately 1481 in brick of a distinctive deep red colour, laid around a central courtyard. The Compton family held the property continuously from that date; through the patronage of Henry VIII, Sir William Compton became one of the wealthiest commoners in England and used his fortune to develop the house further from around 1515, adding the great entrance porch, chapel, towers, and the fluted and twisted brick chimneys that are the most visually distinctive external element of the house today.

The great hall retains its original bay window with heraldic glazing brought from the demolished Fulbroke Castle and incorporating the royal arms of Henry VII and Henry VIII. The king’s own bedroom window retains its stained glass combining the royal arms with those of Aragon. Henry VIII visited the house on several occasions, as did Elizabeth I in 1572 and James I in 1617. The house contains a priest’s room with three concealed staircases hidden behind wall panelling.

Unlike many English country houses, Compton Wynyates was not substantially altered during the 18th century. When the family fortunes declined in the 1760s, the 6th Earl of Northampton ordered the house demolished; his land agent ignored the instruction and merely had the windows bricked up to avoid window tax, preserving the building largely unaltered from the Tudor period. The 2nd Marquess of Northampton restored the house in the early 19th century, refurnishing it and opening the windows. The house remains the private home of the Compton family, Marquesses of Northampton, and is not generally open to the public.

Film productions at Compton Wynyates include: The Black Tent (Rank Organisation, 1955, directed by Brian Desmond Hurst, starring Anthony Steel and Donald Sinden); Carry On Camping (Rank Organisation, 1969, directed by Gerald Thomas, starring Sid James and Kenneth Williams, using exterior shots of the house); Candleshoe (Walt Disney Productions, 1977, directed by Norman Tokar, starring David Niven, Helen Hayes, and Jodie Foster); Death on the Nile (EMI Films, 1978, directed by John Guillermin, starring Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot, adapted from Agatha Christie’s novel); The Mirror Crack’d (EMI Films, 1980, directed by Guy Hamilton, starring Angela Lansbury as Miss Marple); The Tudors (Showtime/Peace Arch Entertainment, 2007–2010, produced by Michael Hirst, starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Henry VIII) used the house for exterior and courtyard sequences.