Description

ATHERINGTON
SS 52 SE
5/10 Umberleigh House and Barton
- including adjoining hothouses to
25.2.65 rear courtyard and remains of Chapel
GV I

Large house, occupied as 2 dwellings with some fabric of the C13 chapel surviving
in attached outhouses to rear courtyard. Substantial late C15 fabric to main range
concealed by late C18/early C19 remodelling, with a large C17 wing added to rear.
Painted rendered stone rubble. Slate roof with gable ends, asbestos slates to
rear. Ridge and gable end brick stacks to south side, left end, similar rubble
stacks with drips at right end. Axial rubble stack towards gable end of rear wing.
The medieval ground floor plan has been largely obscured by the Georgian
remodelling of the house which created 2 large rooms to the left and 3 rooms to
right of the wide entrance hall, but the original C15 structure consisted of a
massive 10-bay, possibly open hall house though always heated by a stack. In the
C17 a large wing was added to the rear right end creating an overall L-shaped plan,
with the covered cart entrance and former chapel incorporated into piggeries
completing the 3-sided rear courtyard plan.
2 storeys with garrets to the rear wing. Symmetrical 5-bay classical centre range
with 2 additional bays at left end and canted 2 storey bay with conical roof at
right end, both ends breaking forward slightly. Central range has 5 window range
of hornless 12-paned sashes over 2 similar sashes to each side of Tuscan porch with
engaged pilasters flanking 6-panelled door with fanlight. Similar fenestration to
2 left end bays with C20 door. Canted bay at right end is blind. Rear wing has
irregular fenestration with mostly 20-paned hornless sashes. The back wall of the
outhouses to rear originally formed the south wall of a chapel, and contains
fragments of the chamfered window jambs and a complete infilled C13 doorway, with
engaged shafts with lipped capitals from which the moulded pointed arch springs.
Interior: main range has late C18/early C19 geometrical staircase to entrance hall
with wreathed handrail and stick balusters. C19 Adam style chimneypiece and
ceiling centrepiece to room to right, and moulded cornices to this room and room to
left of entrance hall which has a marble chimneypiece. A small stone bearing
Champernowne crest has been reset in the rear wall of the entrance hall. The
majority of upper floor rooms in the east wing contain late C17 moulded plaster
cornices, with a late C17 staircase up to the garrets with moulded handrail and
splat balusters, and a C18 balustrade with turned balusters to the head of the
staircase leading from the main range into the rear wing.
The most remarkable survival is the roof structure. Over the main range from the
left end it consists of 11 arch-braced trusses with short curved feet, 3 tiers of
threaded purlins and ridge purlin, with morticed and tenoned straight collars. The
soffits of the arch bracing have hollow flanking roll mouldings, with roll
mouldings to both top and bottom arrises of the inner faces of the purlins, and to
the underside of the ridge purlin. The 2 left end bays retain their full 2 tiers
of curved windbracing to the north side with all but 2 of the bays retaining a
single tier of windbraces, which have identical mouldings to the purlins. Each end
truss is moulded on its inner face. Beyond the right end truss is a closed truss
with short curved feet with mortices for studs, then 5 more trusses with short
curved feet, the second truss being closed with a solid stone partition. The rear
wing has four C17 trusses with high lap-jointed collars and halvings for raking
struts to the tie beams. The house was formerly a seat of the Bassett family. The
exceedingly high quality of the roof carpentry places it in the very top category
of medieval survivals in North Devon.

Listing NGR: SS5936424597

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17526567

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

• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  For the Record
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living