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Summary

Former merchants house rebuilt in 1603 following a fire and renovated and extended in 1718. Of three storeys it has stone end walls with timber-framing inbetween, although the ground floor of the front elevation has been rebuilt in stone. It is one of Cullomptons three distinctive early 17th century grand town houses.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II*) 1105901: THE MANOR HOUSE HOTEL

Other References/Statuses

• National Buildings Record: ST00NW/87779
• National Monuments Record: ST00NW19
• National Monuments Record: ST00NW4
• Old DCC SMR Ref: ST00NW/6
• Old Listed Building Ref (II*): 25282

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• HOUSE (Built, XVII to XVIII - 1601 AD to 1800 AD)

Full description

National Buildings Record, ST00NW/87779 (National Monuments Record Database). SDV338705.

Photos of interior and exterior.

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

Foster, M. T., 1910, A Short History of Cullompton, 162 (Article in Serial). SDV336340.

The Manor House. The name is modern, dating from 1850. The previous name was Sellicks. It is probably a 16th century house, partially rebuilt in 1603. Original structure probably consisted of the front part, in which there were three rooms with a passage on the ground flooor, three above these, and the attics in the gables, which may relate to this addition.

Chanter, J. F., 1927, Proceedings of the Congress of the British Archaeological Association at Exeter, 31-32 (Article in Serial). SDV304205.

French, K. + French, C., 1957, Devonshire Plasterwork, 134 (Article in Serial). SDV4676.

The building has a ceiling dated in the period 1650-1700.

Copeland, G. W., 1964, Proceedings at the 102nd Annual Meeting, 20 (Article in Serial). SDV57390.

An early 17th and early 18th century gabled town house.

Tiverton District Council, 1978, Cullompton Conservation Area, 6 (Report - non-specific). SDV41951.

Department of Environment, 1986, Cullompton, 60 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV336339.

Hotel, formerly a merchant's house. Built 1603 for Thomas Trock, clothier; extended and embellished, 1718. Coursed rubble to ground floor, also right-hand end wall and left-hand party wall; timber framed above, under four gabled-end slate roofs. Occupies the front of a medieval tenement; three-room, through-passage plan, with lower-end (right of passage) rear wing; rear extension and front shell porch of 1718. Parlour heated by left-hand end stack; hall by rear lateral stack; lower-end by (now dismantled) right-hand end stack; the chamber above the hall was certainly heated and the other first floor chambers probably heated, as part of the early 17th century design. Three storeys.
Front: four bays, each bay separately gabled; ground floor with main entrance marking former through passage. Porch and three five-light windows date from 1718. First floor three oriels. Facade flanked by stone side walls, corbelled out at second floor level; each bears inscription stone, 'TT' and bench mark to the left, '1603, T. T. ' to the right. Right-hand elevation (Tiverton Lane) retains its original guttering.
Rear: with rainwater head dated 1718. Two of the 17th century gable walls survive exposed.
Interior: internal partitions all timber framed; hall cross beam now concealed, hall chamber fireplace now concealed. Seventeenth century newel staircase survives at first and second floor levels; one of the second floor rooms retains its square-headed door surround. Eighteenth century stairwell and 18th century arch to stairs.
Roof: four separate roofs with gabled ends towards street; two trusses to each, mortice and pegged at apex; collar dovetailed and fixed by nails; two sets of through purlins; front bays with wind braces.

Cherry, B. + Pevsner, N., 1989, The Buildings of England: Devon, 306 (Monograph). SDV325629.

Morton, R., 2007, Land at Station Road Cullompton, Devon. Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment for Tesco Stores Ltd, 7,17 (Report - Assessment). SDV338659.

Keystone Historic Buildings Consultants, 2009, The Walronds, Cullompton, Devon. A Conservation Management Plan for The Cullompton Walronds Preservation Trust. Consultation Draft, 10, 26, Figs 9, 21 (Report - non-specific). SDV344797.

The Manor House together with The Walronds and the Merchants House [No 8 Fore Street] represent perhaps the finest piece of early 17th century streetscape to survive in any Devon town. Shown on a painting of circa 1825. The house was originally built in 1603 by Thomas Trock, a cloth merchant who gifted almshouses to the town. Its timber framed front is lavishly patterned and jettied in the style favoured for the town houses of 17th century Devon merchants. In the mid 19th century it was occupied by Mr. Upcott who owned a large woollen mill at Shortlands.

Ordnance Survey, 2011, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV346129.

James, T., 2011, The Proposed Cullompton Town Centre Enhancement Scheme, Fore Street, Cullompton, Devon: Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Assessment, 4, 6-7, Fig 2, Pl. 1 (Report - Assessment). SDV347743.

National Monuments Record, 2012, 188083 (National Monuments Record Database). SDV349640.

Manor House.

National Monuments Record, 2012, 545706 (National Monuments Record Database). SDV349641.

Built in the Elizabethan style, the house dates from the 16th century with later alterations.

Blaylock, S., 2016, Archaeological Recording During Repairs at the Manor House Hotel Cullompton 2015 (Report - Watching Brief). SDV360220.

A programme of archaeological recording undertaken during the course of repairs to the north wall of the Manor House Hotel enabled new observations on the structural history of the building. The hotel is one of Cullompton's distinctive collection of three early 17th century grand town houses which appear to have been rebuilt after a fire in 1602 (there are date stones of 1603). The grand scale and quality decoration of this house and its companions (Walronds and Westerns) reflects the prosperity of the town in the 16th and 17th centuries, a prosperity based primarily on the cloth trade. The Manor House Hotel is urban in form ie with stone side walls and a largely timber-framed structure between, although it retains some traditional planning elements such as a three-room and cross-passage plan and a rear chimney stack. It was the subject of a major renovation in the early 18th century, dated to 1718 by an inscribed rainwater head at the rear. These renovations included the construction of a new rear elevation in brick, the improvement of the former kitchen range with the insertion of a first floor. It is also possible that the ground floor of the front elevation was rebuilt in stone at this time; the fancy porch hood on the front dates from this time. Inside new plaster ceilings were inserted.
The most significant result of the recording was the observation of differing masonry styles on the ground floor stage the north wall indicating survival of fabric from an earlier building. It is suggested that this older wall was retained as it was to form the wall of an unheated service room in the new house built after the fire of 1602 . The new masonry was, therefore, seated on top of the existing, and probably, cut down wall. See report for full details.

Blaylock, S. R., 2018, Veryards, 4 Fore Street, Cullompton: Historic Building Recording (Report - Survey). SDV361790.

A historic building recording was undertaken by Stuart Baylock at Veryards, 4 Fore Street, Cullompton. The recording took place during works to replace the existing render of the building.
Some observations on the main Fore Street elevation of the Manor House Hotel were made in passing, since it was accessible from scaffolding. The southern inscribed stone bearing the initials 'T.' and 'T.' with 'A,' beneath was photographed. This triad of initials presumably stands for Thomas Trock and his wife (as opposed to 'T.T.' and the date '1603' on its counterpart at the north end of the building).

Historic England, 2022, National Heritage List for England, 1105901 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364675.

The Manor House Hotel, 2 Fore Street. Former merchant's house. Rebuilt following a fire in 1602 and forms part of a row of early C17 houses in Cullompton. It was built in 1603 for Thomas Trock, a wealthy clothier and merchant, and retains evidence of an earlier C16 house in its construction. The house underwent a major renovation in the early C18 by the then owners William and Theophila Sellicke.
The building became The Manor House Hotel in the mid-1930s. It was restored in the early C21.
Listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest: as an example of an early-C17 merchant’s house with evidence for an earlier, C16 core; for its regionally-distinctive design as a early-C17 town house with its characteristic use of stone party walls to an otherwise timber-framed building, as well as its employment of vernacular building materials; for the overall quality of craftsmanship exhibited in the timber-framing and decorative detailing of the principal façade; for the survival of a significant proportion of its C17 and C18 fixtures and fittings with features of note including moulded ceiling beams, fireplaces, panelling, and staircases; for the retention of its C17 roof structure which incorporates an unusually late example of the use of wind braces (a medieval carpentry tradition) in what is otherwise an early-C17 roof design.
Historic interest: for its contribution to our understanding of the development of domestic architecture for merchant’s houses in the early C17; for the continued legibility of its historic plan form as a three-room cross passage house, and its subsequent development in the C18.
Group value: for its strong group value with 4 Fore Street (Grade II), The Walronds at 6 Fore Street (Grade I), and 8 Fore Street (Grade II) which together form an impressive row of early C17 houses.
See listing description for full details.
Date first listed: 24th October 1951. Date of most recent amendment: 8th November 2022

Historic England, 2022, The Manor House Hotel, 2 Fore Street, Cullompton (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV365586.

Notification that the List entry for The Manor House Hotel, which was being assessed as part of the Cullompton High Street Heritage Action Zones project, has been amended for the following principal reasons:
Clarity: an updated List entry should be issued to help clarify the special architectural and historic interest of the building;
Formatting: the proposed List entry should be revised in line with current standards of format and drafting.

Sources / Further Reading

SDV304205	Article in Serial: Chanter, J. F.. 1927. Proceedings of the Congress of the British Archaeological Association at Exeter. Journal of the British Archaeological Association. 33. 31-32.
SDV325629	Monograph: Cherry, B. + Pevsner, N.. 1989. The Buildings of England: Devon. The Buildings of England: Devon. Hardback Volume. 306.
SDV325644	Cartographic: Ordnance Survey. 1904 - 1906. Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map. Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map. Map (Digital). [Mapped feature: #81121 ]
SDV336339	List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest: Department of Environment. 1986. Cullompton. Historic Houses Register. A4 Comb Bound. 60.
SDV336340	Article in Serial: Foster, M. T.. 1910. A Short History of Cullompton. Transactions of the Devonshire Association. 42. A5 Hardback. 162.
SDV338659	Report - Assessment: Morton, R.. 2007. Land at Station Road Cullompton, Devon. Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment for Tesco Stores Ltd. Cotswold Archaeology Report. 07059. A4 Stapled + Digital. 7,17.
SDV338705	National Monuments Record Database: National Buildings Record. ST00NW/87779. National Monuments Record Database. Unknown.
SDV344797	Report - non-specific: Keystone Historic Buildings Consultants. 2009. The Walronds, Cullompton, Devon. A Conservation Management Plan for The Cullompton Walronds Preservation Trust. Consultation Draft. Keystone Historic Buildings Consultants Report. K/770. A4 Stapled + Digital. 10, 26, Figs 9, 21.
SDV346129	Cartographic: Ordnance Survey. 2011. MasterMap. Ordnance Survey. Map (Digital).
SDV347743	Report - Assessment: James, T.. 2011. The Proposed Cullompton Town Centre Enhancement Scheme, Fore Street, Cullompton, Devon: Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Assessment. AC Archaeology Report. ACD247/1/0. A4 Stapled + Digital. 4, 6-7, Fig 2, Pl. 1.
SDV349640	National Monuments Record Database: National Monuments Record. 2012. 188083. National Monuments Record Database. Website.
SDV349641	National Monuments Record Database: National Monuments Record. 2012. 545706. National Monuments Record Database. Website.
SDV360220	Report - Watching Brief: Blaylock, S.. 2016. Archaeological Recording During Repairs at the Manor House Hotel Cullompton 2015. Digital.
SDV361790	Report - Survey: Blaylock, S. R.. 2018. Veryards, 4 Fore Street, Cullompton: Historic Building Recording. Stuart Baylock. Digital.
	Linked documents:1
SDV364675	National Heritage List for England: Historic England. 2022. National Heritage List for England. Digital. 1105901.
SDV365586	List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest: Historic England. 2022. The Manor House Hotel, 2 Fore Street, Cullompton. Notification of Amendment to List. Email.
SDV41951	Report - non-specific: Tiverton District Council. 1978. Cullompton Conservation Area. Tiverton District Council Report. A4 Stapled + Digital. 6.
SDV4676	Article in Serial: French, K. + French, C.. 1957. Devonshire Plasterwork. Transactions of the Devonshire Association. 89. A5 Hardback. 134.
SDV57390	Article in Serial: Copeland, G. W.. 1964. Proceedings at the 102nd Annual Meeting. Transactions of the Devonshire Association. 96. A5 Paperback. 20.

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4777 - Conservation Management Plan for The Walronds, Cullompton
• EDV7283 - Archaeological Recording During Repairs at the Manor House Hotel, Cullompton
• EDV7601 - Historic Building Recording: Veryards, 4 Fore Street, Cullompton

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