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Summary

Late 16th or early 17th century manor house with some refurbishment of the late 17th or early 18th century and modifications of the 1950s. Retains high quality internal features of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II*) 1306679: NUTCOMBE MANOR

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: ST02SW/6
• Old Listed Building Ref (II*)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• MANOR HOUSE (Early Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD to 1750 AD (Between))

Full description

DOE, 1987, Untitled Source (Report - Survey). SDV57173.

Late xvii house on an earlier site. West wing and porch have been removed. Interior has good plaster ceilings (doe). Vis=-/-/1952 (pevsner). The present appearance of nutcombe manor is simply a rectangle with symmetrical two storeyed, three windowed front. Vis=estimated -/-/1953 (hoskins) a rebuilding of about 1600 on the old site. The kitchen block of this house has been demolished. Externally no special features but internally a good original plan of the 1600 house is still clear. There are good plaster ceilings and elizabethan fireplace. Vis=19/10/1967 (os). As described by hoskins. Jacobean oak panelling, plaster ceilings and other internal features discussed (anon psanhs)vis=nutcombe manor (formerly listed as nutwell manor). Late c16/early c17 with some late c17/erly c18 refurbishment and modifications of the 1950s. Dressed stone, brought to course with ham hill dressungs; 1986 slate roof to main range, gabled at ends. Stacks. Plan is incomplete. The present arrangement is a single depth main range, 2 rooms wide with a rear centre stair wing, a rear left wing with a roof parallel to the main range, a rear right former dairy under a lean-to roof and a single storey lean-to at the left end of the main range. Two storeys. High quality features including plasterwork, good ornamental frieze to c17 hall, c17 dog-leg stair, c18 panelling and early c18 cupboard. Roof structural features. See doe list for full details (doe, 1987).

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV57174.

Osa=st02sw1.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV57175.

Pevsner, n. /buildings of england: north devon/(1952)72.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV57176.

Hoskins, w. G. /new survey of england, devon/(1954)369.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV57177.

Doe/hhr:tiverton rd/(-/6/1959)10.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV57178.

Delderfield, e. /western morning news/(6/1/1978)/scrapbook 2,p17.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV57179.

Anon/psanhs/29 part i(1883)17-18/nutcombe barton.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV57180.

Anon/psanhs/69 part i(1923)32/nutcombe manor.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV57181.

Doe/hhr:clayhanger(7/12/1987)53.

Delderfield, E., Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV58755.

Nutcombe manor. Only a part of the original remains the kitchen block having been demolished. It is a rectangle with a symmetrical 2-storeyed front. On the ground floor are 3 sets of mullioned and transomed windows; on the floor above the windows lack transomes. Originally there had been a central porch. The nutcombe family owned the estate from the early 13th to mid 19th century. The village church has monuments to them. The building is still mainly of 1600, with little interior alteration, except for the loss of three dormer windows. The main room to the west is remarkable for the great elizabethan fireplace, 10 feet wide with a huge oak lintel and inglenooks on each side. The fireback is made up of thin pieces of split stone pieced together in a herringbone pattern. The overmantel is thought to be the work of the famous barnstaple family of plasterers named abbot. Three carytid figures, holding harps, support the mantelpiece, with crude designs between them. Round the room is a 12" plaster frieze, seemingly untouched for nearly 400 years, and the ceiling, decorated with thin ribs, has a large central pendant. In one corner of the room is a built-in cupboard, which seems to be an early form of writing desk. From the main room a door gives on to the passage and stairs and undoubtedly, these led down to the central porch. The georgian staircase is exceptionally fine, being wide, with broad treads and four short flights. The open string type of balusters are slender and carved. To the left of the stairs at the end of the passage is the old kitchen, now diningroom. It once had a huge baking oven, but is now panelled in oak to complement the ancient beams. The room was shortened when the kitchen was demolished; the beams are plastered. The ceiling has an elaborate lozenge design, and there is a fine needlework pattern frieze around the whole room. A handsome half door leads into the roof; its purpose is unknown. The cellars are lit by mullioned windows, and rings are built into the walls to aid handling barrels (delderfield).

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

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

Nutcombe Manor. Manor house. Late C16/early C17 with some late C17/early C18 refurbishment and modifications of the 1950s. Dressed stone, brought to course with Ham Hill dressings; 1986 slate roof to main range, gabled at ends, rear left wing slate roof, half-hipped at left end, tiled roof to left end lean-to; rendered rear lateral stack to main range, right end stack with brick shaft, corner stack to rear left wing. Plan: Incomplete. The present arrangement is a single depth main range, 2 rooms wide with a rear centre stair wing, a rear left wing with a roof parallel to the main range, a rear right former dairy under a lean-to roof and a single-storey lean-to at the left end of the main range. 2 fine principal rooms to the front and a fine first floor chamber to front left, present entrance into left end lean-to. An early C18 painting of the house in the possession of the owner shows that the building formerly extended further to the left under a lower roofline, presumably the service wing, and illustrates a 2-storey porch on the front. Exterior: 2 storeys. Handsome 3-bay front with Ham Hill ovolo-moulded mullioned 4- light windows, with rounded relieving arches, the ground floor windows transomed with hoodmoulds and label stops, all glazed with square leaded panes. There is a straight joint between the main block and left end lean-to; late C16/early C17 plank and stud front door with strap hinges into lean-to it a later doorframe. The rear elevation has a 2-light timber moulded mullioned first floor window to the left of the stair wing which has a first floor 3-light mullioned window; a 2-light circa early C18 window with square leaded panes lighting the landing below and a 2-light timber mullioned window to the ground floor. The right return of the main block has 3 probably late C19 casement windows with brick arches. Interior: Splendid plasterwork and other high quality features of interest. The left hand front room on the ground floor, the C17 hall, has a fine early C17 plaster moulded rib ceiling (French, period two) with floral sprays, a central pendant and a good ornamental frieze. The open fireplace has a chamfered lintel and a plaster overmantel in 2 sections with heraldic shields within cartouches flanked by rustic figures. The inner faces, of the jambs and the hearth seats are painted in imitation of stone in black and white. Early C18 features include a pretty round-headed cupboard door with a keyblock and fielded panels and a fine shell hood above the door into the hall from the stair wing, on the stair wing side. The right hand room has a probably C18 decorated plaster ceiling rose and an C18 chimneypiece. Good circa late C17 dog-leg stair with barley-sugar balusters and a heavy handrail, the balusters becoming stick for the upper flights. Above the hall a high quality first floor chamber with a circa late C17 decorated plaster ceiling, slightly damaged in the late C20, with a frieze and plastered-over crossbeams. The bolection-moulded chimneypiece is late C17/early C18 with an integral painting showing a deer, hounds and a man and reputed but probably too early, to illustrate the poaching incident at Nutcombe which prompted the culprit, Bampfylde Moore Carew to leave home and become the 'King of the Gypsies': The left end wall of this room has circa early C18 panelling including doors, from floor to ceiling, panelling said to have been introduced from elsewhere in the 1950s. The rear left room on the ground floor has introduced C17 panelling and Jacobean style chimneypiece to the corner stack. 2 chamfered step-stopped beams date from the late C16/early C17. Roofspace not inspected but may be of interest, the main trusses at the left end are said to be smoke-blackened, possibly the result of a fire that destroyed the west wing. Nutcombe is an important late C16/early C17 house with an outstanding survival of high quality interior features.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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