Description

BICTON BICTON PARK
SY 08 NE
3/9 Palm House including greenhouse to
- south-east and terrace walls to
south-west.
GV I
Palm House, greenhouse and terrace walls. Circa 1820-5. Rear curtain walls are
brick with limestone coping and plastered on the front, the terrace walls are local
stone rubble topped with brick; the Palm House is cast iron framed with glass walls
and roof; the greenhouse has brick and limestone ashlar sleeper walls with timber-
framed superstructure and glass walls and roof.
Domed Palm House faces south-west with main section projecting forward at right
angles from rear wall. It has a rounded end. Either side are lower and shorter
wings along the walls with quadrant walls and half-doomed roof against the rear
curtain wall. To the right (south-east) the curtain wall continues to meet the back
wall of the Orangery. It is interrupted by the gable end of a greenhouse. To left
(north-west) the curtain wall extends a short distance before returning forward and
containing an arch to the Pinetum beyond, then ramping down to ground level and
serving as the curving retaining wall of the terrace in front of the Palm House.
Behind the Palm House the wall rises in curves with steps between following the
lines of the glass roofs. The Palm House itself has a cast iron frame. It has low
outer walls and tall curving vaulted roof. The wall plate is a curving girder with
a simple moulding and is supported on a series of rectangular-section iron posts.
The walls have vertical timber glazing bars and there are glazed timber-framed doors
at the ends of each side wing. The roof has cast iron glazing bars. There are no
horizontal glazing bars; instead the hundreds of small glass panes have convex lower
edges each overlapping the one below.
Interior. In each of the side wings there are 2 tall and slender cast iron columns
supporting the vault girders. They are circular in section with bulbous foliation
on the bases and foliate caps. The top of the rear wall, behind the central dome,
contains a series of louvred ventilators worked by chains. The only furniture is a
single terracotta vase on a plain stucco pedestal and more line the path outside.
The gable end of the greenhouse to right of the Palm House has limestone ashlar
sleeper walls flanked by corner piers with soffit moulded caps. The central double
doors (panelled bottom and glazed top) at the head of a flight of steps flanked by
low rendered retaining walls. On the top of each are cast iron statues of sitting
dogs (probably C20). The glass walls have glazing bars and the upper lights have
elliptical heads.
The Palm House is stunningly beautiful and most impressive but also a very early
example of an iron-framed glass house. Furthermore it is set in the finest
landscaped gardens in Devon and forms part of an attractive group of buildings with
the Orangery (q.v.), the features of the ItaliarateGardens (q.v.) and the Church of
St. Mary (q.v.)

Listing NGR: SY0724085997

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17525802

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

• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6