Huntsham Court Including Walls and Gate Piers to Courtyard Immediately to the West, Huntsham, Devon

Entry Name: Huntsham Court Including Walls and Gate Piers to Courtyard Immediately to the West

Listing Date: 7 December 1987

Grade: II*

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1169316

English Heritage Legacy ID: 96738

ID on this website: 101169316

Location: Huntsham, Mid Devon, EX16

County: Devon

District: Mid Devon

Civil Parish: Huntsham

Traditional County: Devon

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Devon

Church of England Parish: Huntsham All Saints

Church of England Diocese: Exeter

Tagged with: Gothic Revival English country house

Description

HUNTSHAM HUNTSHAM
ST 02 SW
7/93 Huntsham Court including walls and
gate piers to courtyard immediately
to the west
GV
II*

Country house in use as an hotel. 1869-70 by Benjamin Ferrey for Charles Troyte,
renovations of the 1980s. Grey stone rubble with Ham Hill dressings; red tiled roof;
stacks with grey stone and Ham Hill ashlar shafts.
Plan: Tudor style, conservative for the date, with an asymmetrical plan. Double
depth main range containing the principal rooms and an entrance hall with the porch &
principal stair to the right. 4 service ranges adjoin the house at the left,
arranged round a small rectangular service court; octagonal kitchen, based on the
design of the Abbot's kitchen at Glastonbury adjoins at the rear of the service
ranges.
Exterior: Asymmetrical west-facing entrance elevation with a crosswing to the left
and a 2 bay projecting block at the right with 2 gables to the front consisting of a
2-storey porch and adjoining stair wing. The front of the main block is
picturesquely irregular with a complete set of stone windows, mostly mullioned and
transomed. 3-sided turret with a conical roof to the left; corbelled first floor
oriel widnow with a pierced quatrefoil parapet to left of centre, the oriel rising
above a buttress with carved heads decorating the corbelling. Large gable to the
front at the right; large 6-light transomed window with king mullion to left of
porch, lighting the entrance hall. Stone doorway to porch with a shouldered lintel
and carved detail with carvings in the tympanum. The inner face of the left
crosswing has 2 gables to the front with attic windows and a corner stack with a slim
stone shaft.
The principal garden elevation, facing east, is broken forward at the right end with
2 gables to the front and has a 2-storey canted bay with a conical roof, carved
grotesques and quatrefoil-carved parapet to left of centre. Stone stack to the left
carved with armorial bearings. Fenestration throughout of stone windows, mostly
mullioned and transomed.
The south elevation is gabled to the front at the right with a 2 storey canted bay
with carved grotesques; 3-window block to the left with a gable with armorial
bearings, and a doorway to the left. Fenestration of stone windows, mostly mullioned
anti transomed including a large 4-light stair window above the door.
The service ranges have lower rooflines, mullioned windows and gables. The octagonal
kitchen is crowned with a timber louvred ventilator with a conical lead spine;
pointed arched 2-light windows with roundels above paired lancets.
Interior: Some of the interior features were removed this century and have been
replaced with C19 substitutes but a considerable amount of Ferrey's interior
survives. The entrance hall retains Ferrey's corbelled stone chimneypiece and his
fine arcade of polished granite columns with Early English style carved capitals.
The hall is lined with Jacobean style panelling incorporating some Jacobean carved
figures said to have been re-used from the earlier Huntsham Court. The stair well is
divided from the porch by a 2-bay arcade; stair with twisted balusters; good tiling
to floor of porch and stair well. The drawing room, facing east has an introduced
late C19 chimneypiece and a beamed ceiling preserving the original painted
decoration; Gothic overdoors are also original. The library, facing south, was
gutted in the C20 but the original shelving was being re-introduced at time of survey
(1986). The other principal rooms have stone or marble chimneypieces. The single-
storey octagonal kitchen preserves the original corbelled chimneypiece. Top-lit
first floor axial corridor with bedrooms off and original joinery. Stone walls to
the courtyard immediately west of the house, including gate piers to carriage
entrance are included in the listing. Benjamin Ferrey restored the adjacent parish
church for Arthur Troyte between 1854-6 and was probably also the architect of the
1871 addition to the church shortly after completing Huntsham Court for Arthur
Troyte's son. The Troyte family improved Huntsham, which is still largely an estate
parish, during the C19. Huntsham Court preserves its original exterior, plan form
and many interior features and forms a group with the parish church and adjacent
lodge.

Listing NGR: ST0018120600

External Links

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