  Scattered up and down over Devonshire are many fine old manor-houses, some of them, in parts at least, very ancient, some with picturesque and striking features, many set in very beautiful surroundings, and others of An Old Devon Farmhouse Chimney Corner Not one of the famous houses of Devonshire is entirely, or even in great part, as old as the thirteenth century, although there are several that contain features of that period. Such, for example, is Bowringsleigh, near Kingsbridge, a fine old building, which although mainly Tudor, and containing details of later eras—beautiful Jacobean oak screens and highly-decorated plaster ceilings of the time of William and Mary—has some striking thirteenth century work in it. At Little Hempstone, near Totnes, is a very interesting and well-preserved pre-Reformation parsonage or priest's residence of the fourteenth century; and Ayshford Court, near Burlescombe, a fine old house now used like the Little Hempstone parsonage as a farm, contains a fourteenth century chapel. Of the same period are the great hall, now dismantled, and the old kitchen and other buildings connected with the mansion of Dartington, which although as a whole a noble example of Elizabethan architecture, was originally erected in the reign of Richard II. Manor-houses of the fifteenth century are much more numerous. The most remarkable of them—indeed, the finest of all the many great houses in the county, is Wear Gifford, on the Torridge, about 2 ½ miles south of Bideford, a perfect example of an old English manorial residence, built, it is believed, during the reign of Henry VI. Greatly damaged during the Civil War, the house, which stands in a commanding situation with fine timber, especially oak-trees, about it, was for a long period occupied as a farm, and having become much dilapidated, was restored about eighty years ago. It contains many beautiful and interesting details, but the most striking of the original features are the square embattled tower with the fine entrance archway beneath it, and the magnificent hall, rising to the whole height of the building, with richly-decorated oaken panelling and a carved, open, hammer-beam roof which is one of the very finest examples of Perpendicular woodwork in England. Other good specimens of fifteenth century architecture The noblest Tudor mansion in Devonshire is Holcombe Rogus, in the village of that name, near Burlescombe, about three miles from the border of Somerset. A good deal of the building is a modern restoration, but many details of the time of its foundation, in the reign either of Henry VIII or of Edward VI, still remain. As in the case of Wear Gifford, the most striking features of the house are the very picturesque tower and gate-house, and the great hall—a magnificent room, more than forty feet long, lighted by two great six-light windows. Some of the rooms are finely wainscoted with curiously carved oaken panelling. Adjoining the building is the original "church-house," consisting of kitchen, refectory, and cellar, where parishioners could cook their food and brew their beer, where the poor received their doles, and where the needs of casual wayfarers were relieved. Another very interesting Tudor mansion, only part of which, however, is now habitable, and is used as a farm, is Cadhay, at Ottery St Mary. The interior of the house has been a good deal altered, but the exterior is much as it was in the days of Queen Elizabeth. Its most remarkable feature is the inner court, round which the house is built, and in each of whose four sides, over an arched Tudor doorway, is a highly-decorated projecting canopied Another very fine sixteenth century house, containing also some earlier details, is Bradfield, near Uffculme, in which are a beautiful music-room, a fine banqueting-hall with good panelling, a minstrels' gallery, and a richly-carved roof. Altogether, this is one of the best examples of domestic architecture in Devonshire. Hayes Barton: Sir Walter Ralegh's House Other interesting and noteworthy houses of the period are Colleton Barton at Chumleigh, Flete House at Holbeton, Hayes Barton at East Budleigh, and Mol's Coffee House in Exeter. Flete has been rebuilt, but it is a fine mansion, whose beauty is much enhanced by its surroundings and its avenue of cedars. Hayes Barton, where Ralegh was born—it was thus he always spelt his Two particularly interesting seventeenth century mansions are Sydenham House, not far from Tavistock, and Forde House, near Newton Abbot. In the former, which is a specially fine example of the work of the early part of the century, containing also some fourteenth century details, is some very good carved and decorated woodwork, especially in the form of artistic panelling and stately staircases. There are also secret rooms and passages, some of which have been contrived in the thickness of the walls. The house was greatly damaged during the Civil War, when it is said to have been stormed by the troops of the Parliament. At Forde House, which was taken and retaken several times in the struggle between the King and the Commons, the Prince of Orange slept on the first night after his landing at Brixham. Charles I was there twice, in the first year of his reign. Mol's Coffee House, Exeter Some good examples of more modern houses are Kingsnympton, in the parish of that name, about four miles from Chumleigh, surrounded by well-wooded grounds, on a commanding eminence looking down on the Taw; Sydenham House Other interesting houses are Ashe House near Axminster, the home of the Drake family and the birth-place Some very picturesque old half-timbered houses are to be seen in Exeter, especially in High Street, North Street, and South Street; and there are so many in Dartmouth that the town has been called the Chester of Devonshire. Nor should the fine old almshouses of Tiverton and Exeter be forgotten. Devonshire possesses a great variety of building stone; and the materials employed have naturally varied, as a rule, according to the geological formation of the district. Some of the best houses are of Beer stone. Some, as has been shown, are of flint. Brick, which when of good colour and quality is an excellent material, has been largely employed. Many cottages, and even whole villages, such as Otterton and East Budleigh, are built of "cobb," which is a mixture of clay and straw. Dartmouth: Old Houses in the High Street Thatch, which is still used for roofing, although to a less extent than formerly, has in the past been the cause of many disastrous fires. As recently as 1866 more than 100 houses were burnt down in Ottery St Mary. Nearly the whole of Chudleigh was thus destroyed in 1807. Fires in Crediton, in the eighteenth century, destroyed hundreds of houses. Perhaps the town that has suffered Dartmouth: Newton Village |
|
