Ethy House, Including Garden Walls To North And East

Ethy House, including garden walls to north and east

A country house of the 18th century with a mid-19th century extension, built in the Classical style. The structure is rendered with freestone and granite dressings, beneath a slate roof with hipped ends and deep overhanging eaves. A shallow gabled projecting wing on the west dates to the 19th century. Rendered brick stacks with four 19th-century octagonal pots stand on the south front. The interior is arranged with reception rooms around a central hallway containing a staircase to the rear, while kitchens and servants' quarters occupy a projecting wing on the north-east. The building rises to two storeys with a basement on the east side.

The south front is symmetrical with seven windows in a Classical composition. Rusticated granite quoins frame the front, with a grand order of two freestone pilasters flanking the central three bays. These pilasters rest on moulded square bases and are topped with moulded caps. The cornice has been renewed. The entrance is a 19th-century six-panelled door with a rectangular fanlight, set slightly back within panelled reveals and crowned by a broken segmental pediment. Four granite moulded steps lead to the entrance. Six 12-pane sashes occupy the ground floor with seven similar sashes directly above. All sashes retain exposed sash boxes, though only two on the bottom left have horns.

The west side presents a two-storey front on the right with a further basement on the left, creating an asymmetrical four-window arrangement. A gabled projection on the right-hand side is framed by rusticated quoins. Three 12-pane sashes light the basement windows. The ground floor contains three plated sashes within stuccoed surrounds topped by cornices on consoles. The projecting gable on the right holds a tripartite sash divided and flanked by pilasters supporting an entablature. A granite balcony on four large moulded stone brackets runs across this section, with stone vase balusters and a moulded rail. To the first floor on the left, three 12-pane sashes have stuccoed architraves. The right side of the first floor carries three windows each containing three round-headed plated timber sashes.

The interior contains a notable open string pine staircase with carved brackets, barley sugar balusters on high square bases, square newels, and a moulded rail comprising a central roll with further mouldings. The rail is ramped at corners. A south-west room features an elaborate plasterwork coved cornice with floral trail, breaking forward over the fireplace. It contains a pine fireplace with brackets supporting the architrave; plasterwork decoration has been removed. The library on the west has a coved cornice and elaborate plasterwork ceiling centre with curled acanthus leaves, possibly dating to the early 19th century. A black marble fireplace with marble consoles supports a timber marbled mantlepiece, with a 20th-century glazed tiled opening inserted. The dining room on the south-east displays a coved cornice and plasterwork ceiling centre ornamented with acanthus leaves and stylized foliage connected by delicate ribs. A marble fireplace with marble consoles supports a timber marbled mantlepiece, surrounded by Delft tiles. The drawing room on the south of the first floor contains an elaborate rococo plasterwork ceiling with coved cornice and enriched ovolo mould. The ceiling centre and corners feature shallow arabesques, swags, and delicate ribs. An elaborate plasterwork fireplace flanked by pilasters bears a frieze decorated with paterae in key pattern, enriched ovolo decoration, and swags. A 19th-century cast iron grate with arched opening sits within. Roof timbers were not inspected.

Garden walls of rubblestone heightened with brick and brick-capping extend from the rear of a topiary garden on the north-west, running eastwards along the rear of the house to walled garden enclosures on the east, dating to approximately the 18th century and later. Brickwork is curved and stepped to the north-east of the house. The first walled garden enclosure on the east is accessed via seven moulded granite steps. Courtyard buildings incorporate remains of early stonework from an earlier manor house.

The Courtenays of Ethy Manor are commemorated in glass dating to circa 1500 in St Winnow's Parish Church, where the south aisle was built as a chantry for the Lords of Ethy.