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Summary

The site of a medieval manor originally the property of Plympton Priory. A manor house was not built till 1591. By 1797 building was a ruin. The present house was built on the site in 1803.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II*) 1108590: WEMBURY HOUSE

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX54NW/5
• Old Listed Building Ref (II*): 100473
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX54NW10

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• COUNTRY HOUSE (XIX - 1801 AD to 1900 AD)

Full description

564m/Vol. 15 (Record Office Collection). SDV148337.

Prince, J., 1701, Worthies of Devon (Monograph). SDV24490.

Evans, H. M., 1909, Wembury: Its Bay, Church and Parish: Part I (Article in Serial). SDV336371.

Evans, H. M., 1910, Wembury: Its bay, church and parish. Part II, 517-537 (Article in Serial). SDV148330.

Wembury house. A medieval manor originally the property of Plympton Priory. A manor house was not built till 1591. By 1797 the building was a ruin. The present house was built on the site in 1803.

Reichel, O. J., 1928 - 1938, The Hundred of Plympton in Early Times, 245,251,260,268,281-282,302 (Article in Monograph). SDV161480.

The site of a medieval manor that was in ecclesiastical possession down to the dissolution.

Beckerlegge, J. J., 1937, 6th Report of the Plymouth and District Branch, 224 (Article in Serial). SDV339417.

Beckerlegge, J. J., 1939, Eighth Report of the Plymouth and District Branch, 180 (Article in Serial). SDV149484.

Wembury House, built in 1803 to replace an earlier structure. There is an ancient walled and raised terrace across the lawns in front of the house. The coping stones along the south-est wall differ from those of the south-west wall of this terrace. They probably once stood upright, those of the south-west wall still serve the purpose for which they were designed. Under the central steps is an archway said to have led by an underground passage to the sea, now walled up.

Pevsner, N., 1952, The Buildings of England: South Devon, 306 (Monograph). SDV336217.

Hoskins, W. G., 1954, A New Survey of England: Devon, 513 (Monograph). SDV17562.

Department of Environment, 1956, Plympton St Mary RD, 31 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV140824.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1984, SX54NW10 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV148339.

Wembury House was built in 1803 on the site of an earlier building. To the west of the house is a walled and raised terrace built in the 16th century with "enormous substructures". (TDA 71 1939 180, Buildings of England South Devon 1952 306 Pevsner, N.)
The manor was bought at the Dissolution by Mr Rider and sold to Sir John Hele. Prince asserts that the buildings was made "from an old monkish dorter" but this is the only evidence for actual monastic buildings on the site though the original medieval manor was the property of Plympton Priory. The ancient walled and raised terrace opposite the house is said to have a passage under it leading to the sea and now blocked off. (DCC SMR South Hams print out 18/10/1985: a) Worthies of Devon 1701, Prince, J b) TDA 42 1910 517-37 Wembury, Evans, H. M. c) The Hundreds of Devon 1928-38 245 251 260 268 281-2 302 Reichel, O. J. d) TDA 69 1937 224 Beckerlegge, J. J. e) Devon 1954 513, Hoskins, W. G. f) Devon Record Office 564M/15 np g) TDA 71 1939 180, Beckerlegge, J. J. h) DES Worksheet 28/11/1982 plan, Guyver, R. M. i)Ibid)
Other Details: Listing description 19/07/1984 and Map

National Trust, 1984, Wembury Bay and Yealm Estuary (Report - Survey). SDV340226.

The Elizabethan manor has a deer park and a huge fishpond still visible below the house but not on Trust property.

Department of Environment, 1984, Wembury, 71-72 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV336377.

Country house in landscaped garden, built on the site of a late 16th century house, 1803 built for Sir Thomas Lockyear. Two storeys, attic and ashlar basement. Slate hipped roof. Sash windows with moulded architraves. Retains many original features.
See Doe list for full details.

Cherry, B., 1988, The Devon Country House in the Late Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries, 96-99 (Article in Serial). SDV129144.

Savills, 1988, Wembury House Nr Plymouth, Devon (Pamphlet). SDV148341.

Sale particulars for Wembury House and Lodge.

Cherry, B. + Pevsner, N., 1989, The Buildings of England: Devon, 894 (Monograph). SDV325629.

Clark, J., 2013, Wembury House (Un-published). SDV358373.

An attractive simple house of 1803 built for Thomas Lockyer.

Ordnance Survey, 2015, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV357601.

Historic England, 2015, National Heritage List for England (National Heritage List for England). SDV358087.

Country house in landscaped garden, built on the site of a late C16 house. 1803. Stone rubble formerly rendered and with ashlar dressings and ashlar basement. Parapet with plain stone coping and string courses. Rusticated stone quoins. Slate hipped roof. Two storeys, attic and basement. Five bays. Large sash windows with glazing bars, in moulded stone architraves. Central doorway with large rectangular fanlight. fielded panel double doors and porch with slender Tuscan columns and entablature with cast iron balcony. Deep basement area in front with plain iron railings. One bay set back to left hand (north). East garden front also five bays, and with niches either side of central ground floor window. Interior: Relatively plain interior is virtually unaltered and retains its original joinery, plasterwork, chimneypieces and staircase etc. The house was built for Thomas Lockyer in 1803-6 on the site of a great mansion of Sir John Hele which was demolished to build a late C17 or early C18 house which in turn has been replaced by the present house. Sir John Hele bought the estate in 1592 and built what was reputedly an enormous house of which only the wall to the west q.v. survives. There is a drawing (by Edmund Prideaux) of Wembury House, dated 1716, depicting a late C17/early C18 house. It was then the seat of John Pollexfen. The drawing is now at Prideaux Place, Cornwall.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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