Compton Wynyates

During the Tudor period, many families joined the court circle and obtained privileges which enabled them to become powerful and wealthy. The fortunes of the compton family took shape when William Compton was made a ward of the court after his father's death in 1493. He became a companion to Henry VIII, then a child, and the friendship continued throughout Compton's life. In 1512, after the successful battle of Tournai in France, Compton was knighted and returned to Warwickshire to rebuild this country house on earlier foundations. Compton Wynyates is one of the best examples of architecture of the period. Although some systematic pattern is derived from its arrangement around a rectangular court, here the symmetry ends. A variety of materials including stone, brick, wood and plaster, were used in the construction and this feature, in itself, lends a variety because of the textures, tones and patterns. The ornament, and there is a good deal of it, is Late Gothic. In fact, there was no departure to Renaissance decoration although there may have been some inclination to do so.