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Summary

Ornamental building of late 17th or early 18th century date, built by the Calmady family of Langdon Hall. The Great Mew Stone is included in the registered park and gardens of Langdon Court Hotel.

Location

Protected Status

• Registered Park or Garden (II) 1000695: LANGDON COURT HOTEL

Other References/Statuses

• National Trust SMR: 104380

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FOLLY (XVII to XVIII - 1601 AD to 1800 AD (Between))

Full description

Arnold, M. B., 1996, Langdon Court Estate, Wembury, Plymouth: Great Mewstone Cottage (Correspondence). SDV352049.

English Heritage, 2000, Langdon Court Hotel (Register of Parks and Gardens in England). SDV338303.

The Great Mew Stone is included in the registered site. Church Walk, to the south-east of the site, led to points on the coast at Wembury from which an ornamental structure there could be seen. This circular, conical-roofed structure has distinctive ocular shaped windows and other architectural details which echo those of the garden structure 80 metres south-east of the house. Other details: GD1686.

Berry, N., 2006, Archaeological and Historic Landscape Survey of Wembury Point and The Mewstone, Wembury, Devon, 21-22, 30-32 (Report - Survey). SDV345992.

The Folly is of very late 17th or early 18th century date. It would have been an ornamental building built by the Calmady family of Langdon Hall. There were probably designed views between the Folly and a prospect tower shown on the hill above Langdon Hall in a painting of 1707. The distinctive oval windows in the Folly match those of other buildings on the estate at that time. It is single storey, round in plan, with an external diameter of 5.2 metres and an internal one of 3.77 metres, and built from roughly coursed local stone. The walls were originally covered with a lime render and were probably lime washed, which would have made the building clearly visible from the mainland. The roof is also built with local stone, corbelled in with a large flat stone covering the top. The doorway and oval window are framed with granite, however the window frame is moulded, and rebated on the outside for glazing. The rear stack is brick, with the flue inside the folly wall, and the fireplace is a small opening on the west side of the wall opposite the doorway. The floor is paved with large stone slabs forming a level and reasonably flat surface, and the sockets for joists to support a ceiling are still visible, though the building is now open to the roof. Lower joist positions are also apparent in the walls on the north side, 40 centimetres below the earlier ones, and probably date to the early 19th century, as older plaster is visible above them. The windows framed the views to north and south, although the northern window was cut through to form a doorway when the cottage was added and steps go down to the lower level of the ground floor of this. A rear passage, with integral alcove, was formed on the north-west side by cutting back into the hillside. This was roofed with large slabs of stone and also flagged with similar stone. The north end of the passage was possibly a privy, the south end for storage. Other details: Figures 6-9, 22-23; appendix 1; plan.

Ordnance Survey, 2010, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV344030.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4959 - Survey of Wembury Point and the Mewstone, Wembury, Devon

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