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Summary

Late 18th century country house with earlier origins now used as a hotel.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1326396: PRINCE HALL

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67SW151
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 907380
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67SW/153

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• COUNTRY HOUSE (Built, XVIII - 1780 AD (Between) to 1800 AD (Between))
• HOTEL (Built, XVIII - 1780 AD (Between) to 1800 AD (Between))

Full description

Swete, R. J. (Revd), 1792-1801, 564M 'Picturesque Sketches of Devon' by Reverend John Swete, 564M/F14/59, 63 (Record Office Collection). SDV337942.

Illustrations by Swete.

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

'Prince Hall' marked on 1880s-1890s 25 inch Ordnance Survey map with an L-shaped building to the east and a long rectangular building to the north-east. The associated planned farmstead is further to the east

Department of Environment, 1960, Tavistock RD, 13 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV239444.

Prince Hall. Cemented rubble with hipped slate roofs and cemented stacks. Irregular plan. Two storeys. Sashes. Probably 18th century but much altered.

Department of Environment, 1987, Lydford, 9 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV266265.

Prince Hall, circa 1780-90. Two storeys and attic with plastered stone walls and a slate roof. The main range has a cross wing at the right hand end. Opposite the house is the former coach-house, now roofless.
Prince Hall was bought by Gullet in 1780 and improvements (rebuilding) completed by Buller in the 1780's. A print of 1797 shows the house similar to that of today. Grade II.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1987-1993, Duchy Farms Project Survey Visit, M. J. Fletcher (Report - Survey). SDV350839.

(06/01/1988) SX 62557420. This large cement rendered house which is now a hotel set in its own grounds is well preserved and is as described.

Swete, J. (ed. Gray T. + Rowe, M.), 2000, Travels in Georgian Devon. The Illustrated Journals of the Reverend John Swete. Vol. 4, 47, 56, 57 (Monograph). SDV339713.

Swete comments, on his tour of Dartmoor in 1797, that he 'was pleased to find that some considerble improvements had been effected since my last Visit'. The house appears to have been largely rebuilt by the then owner, Sir Francis Buller. Swete's illustrations show a stone built house with a hipped roof with chimneys either end with presumably the remains of the old house at right angles to it. Part of the planned farmstead is also shown in one of the illustrations.

Ordnance Survey, 2012, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV348725.

Now the Prince Hall Hotel.

English Heritage, 2012, National Heritage List for England (National Heritage List for England). SDV348729.

Prince Hall. Small country house used as hotel. Circa 1780-90. Plastered stone walls. Slate roof with overhanging sprocketted eaves, hipped to left end and gabled to wing. 3 rendered stacks, one at left-hand end, one axial to main range and one at right-hand end of wing.
Plan: Main range with cross-wing at right-hand end. Main range has entrance hall running longitudinally along the entrance front with a small room at its right end. Behind the hall, facing the garden, are two principal rooms. The cross wing to the left has a further principal room facing the garden and service rooms at the rear. The staircase is at the front of the entrance hall.
Exterior: 2 storeys with attic. Asymmetrical 4:2 window garden front with slightly projecting wing to right. 12-pane hornless sashes, some of which may be original; to the ground floor of the main range are 20th century 4-pane sashes. Roundheaded window on 2nd floor of wing. Rear entrance front has wing projecting to the left with original tall roundheaded stair window. 20th century porch at centre of main range with probably original double 6-panelled doors. Inside door to house has fanlight above.
Interior: 2 of the principal rooms have marble chimneypieces with tapering octagonal columns, that in the left-hand end room has its original grate with square opening. This room has a decorative cornice and ceiling band. The central room has a plain moulded band and cornice. The original staircase survives - open string with turned balusters and turned and moulded newels with finials. Other original joinery such as 6-panelled doors and panelled shutters survive.
Outside, at the left-hand end of the-house on the entrance side, is a rectangular cobbled courtyard bounded on 3 sides by a tall crenellated wall, opposite to the house is a former coach house, now roofless.
Prince Hall is one of the 17 Ancient Tenements of the Forest of Dartmoor first mentioned in documents in 1521. In 1780 a Mr Gullet bought the site and began improvements to the buildings which were completed by Francis Buller a distinguished lawyer and judge when he bought the property in the late 1780s. A print of 1797 depicts the house in a similar form to that in which it survives. Date listed: 28th October 1987.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8639 - Princehall Farm, Duchy Farms Survey
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project
• EDV8423 - Duchy Farms Project

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