Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 13/03/2020

SX 74 SW
5/179

WEST ALVINGTON
Bowringsleigh

25.10.51

GV
I

Country house. C15 heavily remodelled with considerable internal refitting throughout the C17 and with further alterations and additions of the later C19. Originally the home of the Bowring family, later purchased by the Ilberts in 1696 who undertook much restoration work on it in 1868-73 by the architect Richard Coad following a substantial fire. Walls mainly of rough coursed slatestone rubble. Gabled natural slate roofs with decorative Victorian ridge tiles and stone coping. Numerous stone rubble stacks, mostly with moulded caps.

Plan: complex plan and development which has evolved over many generations. Entrance into screens passage with lofty hall to left which is probably on site of medieval hall but was remodelled in early to mid C17 with fireplace on its rear wall. Beyond is a room which has been a parlour at least from the late C17 or early C18 when it was refitted. To its left is a cross wing which is probably a heavy C19 remodelling of an earlier range (at least at the front) and extends to the rear with the Victorian kitchen and service rooms. To the right of the screens passage is a room also with a rear lateral fireplace beyond which is another cross-passage which leads at the front to the tower with chapel on its lowest storey. Undoubtedly this is of C15 origin but heavily restored and its upper half rebuilt in the restoration. A fire is recorded in 1843 which apparently destroyed the east wing of the house and this may account for the pronounced Victorian character of the end rooms and the restoration of the tower. Behind this row of rooms is an axial passage which has smaller narrower rooms to the rear terminating in a large C19 billiard room at the east end. At the back of the screens passage is a C17 staircase and there is a similar stairwell in the angle with the kitchen wing. Between these two is a room immediately behind the hall of uncertain date: it has early C16 windows but these may have been re-used and the room added when the C17 alterations were effected. A rear service courtyard is formed by various C19 buildings on the two sides opposite the house.

Exterior: three storeys. Asymmetrical seven window crenellated front with gabled cross wing at the left end and tall crenellated tower to the right which has a further range beyond it. Stone mullion and transomed windows of three, four and six-lights, the larger ones to hall and parlour are C17, the others probably restored in the C19. Gabled two storey porch to right of centre with segmental arch-moulded doorway which has hoodmould over. This and the roll-and-hollow moulded inner doorway are made of volcanic stone. C17 panelled door inside porch. The tower has a five-sided stair turret on its west side lit by slits. The other windows are single or two-light stone mullions with cinquefoil heads, some of which retain the C15 tracery, but others have been restored. Doorway behind the turret has a round voussoir arch. On the east side of the tower is the three-light chapel window which is a complete restoration in Perpendicular style. To its right is another stair projection. Beyond the tower is a Gig range with mullion and transom windows and bay on its end wall. Behind it and the billiard room is a separate one-storey gabled range. Between the two ranges is a section of wall incorporating a C17 granite arched doorway and there is a similar doorway with a restored head behind the billiard room. The tall rubble wall extends in a curve towards the east approximately 50 metres terminating in a C19 Jacobean style gazebo. At the rear the house is arranged around a courtyard and the main range incorporates two early C16 stone mullion windows with segmental heads. To the right is a stair projection with a possibly C17 12-light mullion and transom window. Further to the left are two C19 cinquefoiled stair lights. The wing projection to the right ends in a C19 pyramidal roof kitchen block and has an outshut running in front of it.

Interior good early - mid C17 screen between passage and hall, more decorative on hall side with arcaded panels, strapwork and fluted Corinthian columns. Simple plaster ceiling in hall may be slightly earlier and has single ribs in a geometrical design with a central pendant. Early C17 granite lateral fireplace has roll and hollow moulding which rises to a peak at the centre of the lintel. In the higher end wall is a late C17 timber doorcase with bolection moulded surround and surmounted by an open pediment with large armorial shield at centre. The room beyond the hall has complete late C17 bolection moulded panelling with two pedimented doorcases similar to that in the hall. The plain marble fireplace is considerably later. The good plaster ceiling, however, is contemporary with the panelling and has an octagonal panel with the figure of Fame blowing her trumpet in the centre, and surrounding this are various military devices in high relief with foliage decoration around the outside. The room behind the hall has a late C17 wooden chimneypiece with heavy cornice and projecting central panel. Behind the screens passage is a C19 open well staircase with squared newels which have plain caps, closed string and barleytwist balusters. A segmental headed granite doorway leads from the passage into the room off its right which has a granite fireplace similar to that in the hall. All the joinery in this room and the room beyond is late C19 of a good quality in C17 style. The chapel incorporates a C15 rood screen from the ruined South Huish church (q.v.). The C19 kitchen at the back of the house has an open timber roof, three fireplaces made of dressed stone and a large built-in dresser. The landing at the top of the stairs has a C17 plaster cornice. The bedroom at the top of the stairs has a bolection moulded dado and wooden chimneypiece. In one wall is a good circa early C18 shell headed cupboard. The room to its right is fitted with C17 panelling, partly renewed in one corner and has a contemporary granite fireplace with wooden overmantel above. There are numerous late C17 bolection moulded two-panel doors upstairs and further along one bedroom has bolection moulded panelling and another has probably slightly later fielded panelling. Opposite these two rooms is a late C17 staircase similar to the other and the two bedrooms are reached from it by tall doorways with segmental pediments over. The roof structure to the house is entirely late C19.

This is a house which maintained its importance until the late C19 and this is reflected in the quality of its features throughout; it was not much altered in the C20.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17527073

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

• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas