Description

SY 19 SE SOUTHLEIGH

5/130 Wiscombe Park
-
22.2.55
- II*

Country house. 1826 by J. Power of Colyton with some internal modernisation of
circa 1880. Plastered local stone rubble with Beerstone ashlar detail; stone rubble
stacks with Beerstone ashlar octagonal divided chimneyshafts and moulded coping;
slate roof.
Plan: U-plan building. The main block faces south-east. It is double depth under
parallel roofs. In the centre is a large entrance hall and main staircase to rear.
The principal rooms are those to left with the large principal parlour on the front.
To right is the dining room with the kitchen behind and behind that a service wing
projects at right angles. A large billiard room projects at right angles to rear of
the left end with a conservatory on the outer (south-western) side. Most of the
rooms are heated by a series of axial and gable-end stacks. Mostly 2 storeys with
attics; the billiard room is single storey. Gothick style.
Exterior: symmetrical 5-window front. The tall windows are 2-lights with cusped
cinquefoil heads under Tudor-style hoodmoulds. They contain narrow sash windows,
the first floor ones with glazing bars. The central doorway contains double doors
with Gothick panelling under a 2-centred arch fanlight with Y-tracery glazing bars.
The porch is Beerstone ashlar. Its gabled roof is supported on pairs of clustered
pilaster columns with moulded caps under a frieze of quatrefoil panels. The coping
is embattled, there is an apex cross and the arch is cusped. Each end corner of the
main block has set back buttresses with weathered offsets. There is a Beerstone
ashlar parapet with Gothic pinnacles each end. There is a similar parapet to rear
of the main block and round the billiard room block. Both front block roofs are
gable-ended with coping and at the front there are 3 gabled dormers with shaped
bargeboards. The left end of the main block has a 3-window front of a similar
Gothic windows to the front. The billiard room block has a semi-octagonal end and
is lit mostly through a cupola. The conservatory has been partly rebuilt but its
tile floor is C19. At the back of the main block is a large arch-headed window
lighting the stairs. It contains a kind of early Decorated style tracery and
contains stained glass. The rear service block is unembellished and its windows are
mostly plain 16-pane sashes.
Interior: contains a great deal of original and late C19 joinery and other detail.
The stair hall is most impressive lit through the large stained glass window. The
large open well stair has an open string, slender turned balusters and curtail step.
The front parlour contains a large and ornate chimneypiece of Italian marble
featuring carved heads representing the Seasons and it is complete with brass lamp
holders. This chimneypiece was exhibited in the Great Exhibition of 1851 according
to the owner.
Wiscombe is a Domesday manor and belonged to the Bonvill family in the C13.
Source: Devon SMR.

Listing NGR: SY1862593057

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wiscombe Park at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17361877

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

• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)