Description

SX 69 NE SOUTH TAWTON

1/184 Summerhouse approximately 120
metres south-west of Wood House

GV II*

Summerhouse. 1899-1905 by Thomas Mawson. Partly-roughcast granite stone rubble
laid to rough courses with dressed granite quoins and granite ashlar detail;
probably Cotswold stone slab roof.
Plan: Summerhouse built up the hillslope from and facing Wood House (q.v.) to the
north-east. It comprises a single room with right lateral stack and left bay window
built at right angles to rear of the centre of a semi-circular roofed arcade. At
each end the last bay has probably always been enclosed but in the mid C17 these
have been converted to service rooms.
Exterior: curving arcade is supported on a series of turned monolithic granite
Tuscan posts, the outer end bays defined by square section posts and infilled with
C20 walls. The end walls are granite and each contains a round-headed niche with
eared architrave around. The roof is hipped each end and has a decorated lead
gutter. At the back, in the centre are pairs of posts in front of the doorway to
the Summerhouse room. The bay window here is granite-mullioned in the same style as
the house and contains rectangular panes of leaded glass.
Interior: finished to the same standard as the main house. The granite ashlar
fireplace has a cable-moulded surround, so too do-the 2 round-headed alcoves of the
granite chimneypiece. The lintel is carved with a Latin inscription. The room is
lined with fielded panel oak wainscotting and above the dado are panels with moulded
plaster architraves. Coved plaster cornice and the ceiling of the bay is enriched
with ornamental plasterwork in the Jacobean vernacular style.
This summerhouse is part of an extensive landscaping scheme conceived by Mawson to
go with the rebuilding of Wood House (q.v.). Mawson himself considered the whole
scheme as one of his major achievements.
Source: T H Mawson The Art and Craft of Garden Making, (5th edition) includes
copious notes and illustrations of Wood House.

Listing NGR: SX6531895927

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17537592

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

• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)