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Summary

17th century manor house. The central, projecting porch bears the date 1674.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II*) 1107406: GREAT STERT FARM HOUSE

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX55NE/5
• Old Listed Building Ref (II*)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• MANSION HOUSE (Dated, XVII - 1674 AD to 1674 AD)

Full description

Falcon, T. A., 1904-1905, Some Dartmoor Farmhouses, 249 (Article in Serial). SDV337006.

Great stert. Planned to give complete protection for residents. Rectangular high garden walls complete the rectangle. The only windows are inside the boundary walls. Projecting front porch commands the only entrance to the garden, which is in the centre of the far wall of the rectangle. Small room over porch has windows on three sides. Fardel same plan. Rooms have been added at back outside original rectangle. Otherwise original structure unaltered. Windows and fireplaces have been uncovered. Fine granite fireplaces in room south of porch, another in north room. Windows in porch room have been restored to proper function. The pillars flanking main entrance in eastern wall of garden bear date 1674 and the arms of hele impaling drake, with grotesque animals on stone in the walls nearby. Moorland farmhouse, west steart 0.5 mile south west of cornwood station. This house has historical connections with the drake family. The armorial gateposts, dated 1674, are an unusual example of detailed carving in granite. The quaint panelled monsters at each side add to the effect. There is a photograph of west steart facing.

Beckerlegge, J. J., 1938, Seventh Report of the Plymouth and District Branch, 157 (Article in Serial). SDV139895.

The house was originally built with the object of providing protection for the residents. In its simplest form the rectangle is the unit, the house stretching right across one end of it while the high garden walls complete the rectangle. Rooms have been added at the back of the house, outside the original rectangle, but otherwise the early exterior remains practically unspoiled. The pillars flanking the main entrance to the eastern wall of the garden are worthy of note, they bear the date 1674 and the arms of Hele impaling Drake, with grotesque animals on stone in the walls near.

Copeland, G. W., 1944, Thirteenth Report of the Plymouth and District Branch, 97-98 (Article in Serial). SDV148767.

Great Stert had already been visited by the branch, but Mrs Wotton was able to shew the visitors parts of two moulded plaster friezes which she had recently uncovered in two rooms, a lower and an upper, left of passage from the porch. Special attention was paid to the fine and interesting granite gate piers flanking the forecourt entrance. On the outer face of each is a large panel in relief of the arms of Hele impaling Drake, against an ornamental background of scrollwork. On the south pier the coats are reversed, so that the husband should not take precedence in both cases. Each shield is surmounted by a helm with the Drake griffin at its crest, and in each case appear the date and initials: 16 I H P 74 (presumable John and Priscilla Hele). The lozenge charges of the Drake coat are too small to take the "leopards", therefore these animals are reproduced on a much magnified scale in the adjoining side walls, one on each side. They are passant guardant in attitude and that to the north appears to have a ruff around its neck. Neither Great Stert nor its neighbour Fardel was ever fortified.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950, SX55NE2 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV149144.

Mansion (remians of). (OS 6" 1906)

The house was originally built with the object of providing protection for the residents. In its simplest form the rectangle is the unit, the house stretching right across one end of it while the high garden walls complete the rectangle. Rooms have been added at the back of the house, outside the original rectangle, but otherwise the early exterior remains practically unspoiled. The pillars flanking the main entrance to the eastern wall of the garden are worthy of note, they bear the date 1674 and the arms of Hele impaling Drake, with grotesque animals on stone in the walls near. (TDA 1938, 70, 157, Beckerlegge, J. J.)

Remains of mansion as shown on field sheet (and on record sheet). (Comment/Visit, 28/03/1950)

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

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

Great Stert Farmhouse. Farm house. Circa early C17. Date 1674 in porch. Plastered stone rubble with granite dressings. Steeply pitched slate roof with gabled ends. Symmetrical 2-storey 5 bay front. Central projecting 2-storeyed gabled porch with chamfered cambered arch granite doorway. Inner doorway is similar and has date 1674 over, and a heavy panelled door. Three-light hollow-chamfered stone mullion windows. Large chimneystack over right hand (north) gable end. The south gable end is slate hung. Interior: Four plain chamfered granite chimneypieces with stopped jambs, one with cambered arch. Ground floor room in south end has small section of early C17 moulded plaster frieze over fireplace. Stopped and chamfered wooden doorframes.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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