Paul Methuen (1723-95), was the son of Thomas Methuen of Bradford-on-Avon, and in 1749 he married Christian Cobb (d1799), the second daughter of Sir George Cobb, 3rd Baronet, of Adderbury. Methuen served as MP for Westbury in 1747-48, Warwick in 1762-74, and Great Bedwyn in 1744-81, and in 1757 he inherited Corsham Court from his father’s cousin, Sir Paul Methuen.

Corsham Court had been built in 1582 by Thomas Smythe, and was purchased by Sir Paul in 1745. Having rejected designs by Henry Keene (1726-76), Methuen employed Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown (1716-83) in 1761-64 to enlarge the house, principally through the addition of a large picture gallery. Following this Methuen approached Robert Adam. Corsham is one of the rare instances in which Adam provided designs for furniture, without having provided designs for interior decoration. He designed four executed mirror frames for the picture gallery and cabinet room.

Further alterations were made to the house and park in 1797-98 by John Nash (1752-1835) and John Adey Repton (1775-1860), and in 1844-49 by Thomas Bellamy (1798-1876). Corsham Court remains in the ownership of the Methuen family. It is open to the public, and part of the house is used as a postgraduate centre by the University of Bath Spa for the arts and humanities.

There are four copies of Adam's designs in the collection at Corsham Court.

Literature:
A.T. Bolton, The architecture of Robert and James Adam, 1922, Volume II, Index pp. 7, 80; E. Harris, The furniture of Robert Adam, 1963, pp. 49, 77-78, 80-81; N. Pevsner, and B. Cherry, The buildings of England: Wiltshire, 1975, pp. 192-94; E. Harris, The genius of Robert Adam: his interiors, 2001, pp. 14, 59, 347; D. King, The complete works of Robert & James Adam and unbuilt Adam, 2001, Volume I, p. 225; 'Methuen, Paul (1723-95), of Corsham and Bradford-on-Avon, Wilts.', History of Parliament online, 2012

Frances Sands, 2012