public (except for occasional weddings), and both houses are now lived in by the family once again. In 1914, Compton Wynyates served as the inspiration, when the firm of noted American architect John Russell Pope designed Branch House in Richmond, Virginia, for wealthy financier John Kerr Branch (1865–1930) and his wife. A dead-end public footpath runs from the village of Upper Tysoe about a mile away, ending at a tall locked gate a few yards short of the estate church, where the walker is instructed to return the way they came. There is no access through to the public road a short distance further on. Cultural references Compton Wynyates has occasionally been used as a filming location, including: The Black Tent (1955); Carry On Camping (1969), (Coincidentally these establishing shots are said to have come from the earlier Black Tent footage); Candleshoe (1977); Death on the Nile (1978); the 1980s television show Silver Spoons; An Instance of the Fingerpost (1998); The Mirror Crack'd (1980); a 1995 episode of Keeping Up Appearances and the television series The Tudors. The house was the inspiration for Croft Manor in the Tomb Raider series. The Cinema Museum in London holds film of the house from 1938 (Ref HM00083). See also Marquess of Northampton Notes References A History of the County of Warwick, Volume 5 (1949) pp 60–67 from British History Online Compton Wynyates – An anonymously written guide book. Published by the Marquess of Northampton c. 1968, during the short period that the house was open to the public. External links Colour photograph of Compton Wynyates Details of Castle Ashby Country houses in Warwickshire Grade I listed buildings in Warwickshire Grade I listed houses Compton family Prime ministerial homes in the United Kingdom Brick Gothic Gothic architecture in England Tudor architecture Stratford-on-Avon District