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Bryanston Cottage is listed grade 2 and was part of the Bryanston Estate, which had been owned by the Portmans since 1685. It was first sold out of the estate in January 1966. Although Bryanston Street is now a tranquil backwater, it was the main road to Sherborne until 1775. The great fire of Blandford of 1731, which destroyed most of the town, started in the tallow chandler’s shop on the site of what is today The Kings Arms Hotel on the corner of Bryanston street.
It is said that Lord Portman built Bryanston Cottage in the mid 1700's for his mistress. He was able to walk across his Deer Park to visit her without entering the town. The cottage was then extended in the 1800s since when it has changed little. From the 1840’s to 1880’s Bryanston cottage was the home of Francis T. Johns, Public Notary and Under-Sheriff of Dorset.
Today, the old Portman seat forms the core of Bryanston School. The Deer Park is known as the Crown meadows and Bryanston Cottage continues to sit behind its Ha-Ha overlooking them, the river Stour and Bryanston School's woods beyond the Cliff.
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