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Summary

Rock House & adjacent range of buildings were built in the early 19C

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II*) 1306712: ROCK HOUSE AND ADJACENT RANGE OF OUTBUILDINGS TO REAR

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: ST01SW/103
• Old Listed Building Ref (II*): 95391

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

NMR, ST01SW 15 (National Monuments Record Database). SDV59001.

Department of Environment, 1986, Halberton, 132 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV43576.

Rock House and adjacent range of outbuildings to rear. Substantial country house. Built c1814 by John Rennie. Coursed rubble limestone and sandstone, with ashlar quoins, under hipped slate and pantiled roofs. Central staircase double depth plan with a rear service wing that connects with an extensive range of outbuildings. Axial stacks. 2 1/2-storeys, the central bay of 3 storeys. Front: symmetrical, 2:1:2 bays; tall, narrow projecting central entrance bay, ashlar quoining; semi-circular second floor window with hornless sash, 12-pane hornless sash window to first floor; the moulded stringcourse forms the cornice of the porch entablature with a frieze of triglyphs, 4 large Doric columns, the doorway with panelled reveals, the door, also panelled, with rectangular barred fanlight. Bays to either side with hornless sash windows to first and second floors, with 6-pane attic windows; flanking bays slightly recessed with sash windows to first and second floor; all first and second floor windows under pronounced stone window arches. Stone coursing in alternate bands of sandstone and limestone. Left-hand side elevation, 3-window range, hornless sash windows with a central door under a 19C glazed porch. To the left of this front is a carriage entry under round headed arch with keystone, large pediment, and pilaster quoins. The long range of outbuildings, all 2-storeyed, that extends from this point but at a different alignment, presents a forbidding exterior to the road, a tall wall, completely without any openings; inner elevation of this range with 2 carriage entrances, 3 openings above, all with heavy stone jambs and lintels; stable block set at right angles to this range, with carriageway arch, the gable wall with a round-headed opening; heavy coping and quoins. Rainwater from roofs of the house and outbuildings collects in a stone gutter which is carried along the entire range, forming the base of the stable gable wall and issues into a large storage tank at the bottom end of the building. Interior: plain carpentry details; labyrinthine cellars cut into bedrock.

Cherry, B. + Pevsner, N., 1989, The Buildings of England: Devon, 467 (Monograph). SDV325629.

Fewins, C., 2001, Tunnel Vision, 18 (Article in Serial). SDV59003.

Rock House was built for Captain John Twisden who was associated with the construction of the Great Western Canal. The house overlies a network of possibly medieval caverns (see PRN63887). The house & associated buildings was being refurbished in 2001.

Dodd, D., 2006, Historic Buildings and Structures Along the Waterways: Grand Western Canal in Devon, 5 (Report - Interim). SDV351654.

The Georgian mansion to the north is Rock House, built and lived in by Captain Twisden, who could be described as 'Canal Manager' between 1815 and 1842.

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

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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