Description

BOVEY TRACEY BOVEY TRACEY
SX 8278

12/39 Devon House Flats
-

GV II

The Devon House of Mercy for the Reception of Fallen Women, now block of flats.
1865, by Henry Woodyer. Coursed granite rubble with dressings of Bath stone; the
west face of the south-east wing has been rebuilt with artificial stone in the
ground storey. Some yellow brick buildings, possibly later additions, at the
western end. Slated roofs mostly tarred. Red brick chimney stacks with square
shafts attached and bracketed caps composed of projecting brick courses. Austere
High Victorian Gothic style. Consists of a long main range with cross-wings at
either end of the north and south sides, forming an approximate H-plan. Storeyed
entrance porch in centre of north side, large chapel wing at east end. At western
end a collection of lower buildings, some single storeyed, the stone-built ones with
rainwater heads dated 1865. 2 storeys with garrets, apart from the single storey
buildings at the western end. The building has mostly plain stone-mullioned or
mullioned-and-transomed windows with 2-centred heads to the lights, steeply pitched
roofs with gabled dormers, some of which (especially on the north side) have wood
casements with shouldered heads. A little carving round the window heads in the
south-east wing. Much of the original glazing survives, with 2 or 3 panes per
light, and also much old glass. Chapel radically altered, with C20 flat roof and
fenestration. Buttresses survive and also the 3-sided east end; each of the 3 sides
contains a triple lancet window (now blocked), although on the north-east side the
lower part of the window has been replaced by a C20 one. Only a small part of
interior inspected; a few chamfered, 2-centred arched stone doorways survive.
Foundation stone laid in 1865 by the Earl of Devon, whose second son, the vicar of
Bovey Tracey, appears to have played an important part in establishing the
institution. It was run by the Clewer Sisterhood of Windsor; 72 inmates originally.
Source: Morris's Directory for Devonshire, 1870, p.460. L Tregoning, Bovey Tracey,
1983, pp.39-40. C L Eastlake, Gothic Revival, 1872, pp.331-2.

Listing NGR: SX8228178674

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26389694

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)