Werrington Park (House)

This country house is probably of 16th-century origin, incorporating parts of the earlier medieval fabric. It was partly remodelled in 1641 (datestone) for Sir Francis Drake and later after 1649 for Sir William Morice and his son. Further extensions were made in the early 18th century for Sir Nicholas Morice and Sir William Morice. Pevsner suggests that these later alterations and extensions may have been by William Kent. The earlier part was partly damaged by fire in 1974.

The building is constructed of stone rubble to the rear range, with the front extension in stuccoed brick. The roofs are slate with both hipped and gable ends. The front range has rendered shafts to axial and end stacks, while the rear range has projecting end and lateral stacks.

Plan and Development

The house is arranged around a courtyard, with the earlier 16th-century range to the rear on the north side and the 18th-century house to the front on the south. The rear range extends further to the right (east) and has two wings projecting southward: one from the left-hand (west) end and another from near the centre, connecting with the front range to form the courtyard plan.

The original arrangement is uncertain, but by the early 16th century the house was already fairly large, being one of the residences of the Lord Abbot of Tavistock. In 1641, Sir Francis Drake (nephew of the admiral) was responsible for remodelling which probably included the addition of a three-storey porch and the stair projection to the rear of the passage. The house was remodelled by Sir William Morice after 1649, and the eastern (right-hand) side of the earlier range was altered.

Between 1704 and 1740 the house was extended on the south side. Otto Peter recorded in his 1906 guide to Werrington that there was a datestone 'NMK 1704', probably contemporary with the marriage of Sir Nicholas and Lady Katherine Herbert, daughter of Thomas, 8th Earl of Pembroke. In 1740 Sir William Morice demolished the parish church and churchyard which had stood close to the house. The house was partly altered by the Dukes of Northumberland in the 19th century. Fire partly gutted the rear of the house in 1974 and part of the roof structure has been replaced; therefore the development of the earlier house is uncertain.

The Earlier Range

The earlier long, low rear range (on the north) is on ground that slopes down towards the east (right). The three-storey porch, positioned to the left (west) of centre, leads into a wide passage with a stair projection to the rear. On the west (left-hand) side of the passage are two rooms: the far room is a large kitchen heated by an end stack, and the middle room was divided in the 19th century to form a dairy and scullery. The original purpose of these rooms is uncertain, and many of the earlier features have been covered over by the complete and unaltered 19th-century fittings. The chamfered late 16th-century or early 17th-century arches to these rooms appear to have been partly reset. Above the dairy is a very low room with heavy floor joists, and above that are tall attic rooms which were gutted by the 1974 fire.

On the eastern (right-hand) side of the passage is a large servant's hall heated by a large projecting lateral stack. The chambers above contain the remains of detailing probably from the 1641 remodelling. The two low wings which project to the front (south) from the kitchen and servant's hall are 17th century or earlier, with 19th-century detailing covering earlier features including a very large fireplace in the west wing.

Beyond to the east (right), the house appears to have been remodelled and possibly extended by Sir William Morice. This extension has low cellars and tall, lofty panelled state rooms above. The panelling, windows and staircase suggest a mid to late 17th-century date, surviving intact and of fine quality. The house therefore from the mid 17th century to late 17th century was quite grand, with the higher end on the east (right) and service rooms to the west (left).

The Early 18th-Century Extension

The early 18th-century extension of the mansion comprised a double-depth block on the south side of the courtyard, abutting the front wings of the earlier house. It is uncertain how much of an earlier structure was incorporated, although the southern ends of the front wings to the earlier range appear to have been remodelled rather than extended and rebuilt.

The front block has three principal rooms—a dining room (previously morning room), saloon and drawing room—across the front, with a wide corridor running across the entire length to the rear. On the first floor the plan is repeated, with the principal bedrooms to the front and a corridor across the rear. The stair was accommodated to the rear right and the back stair to the rear left, probably in the remodelled front ends of the earlier front wings.

Exterior

The south elevation is of two storeys with a symmetrical 3:3:3 window front and a central full-height canted bay with hipped end. On the ground floor, the central glazed door with pediment above is flanked by two 19th-century narrow 8-pane sashes. To the right and left, the central 12-pane sashes have moulded architraves and apron balustrades and are flanked by two plain 12-pane sashes. On the first floor are nine 6-pane and 4-pane sashes.

The right and left side elevations are 3:1:1 and 1:1:3 bays respectively. The entrance bays break forward, and there is a large circa 19th-century porch on the right side with a moulded cornice and parapet.

The south front of the earlier range has an almost symmetrical arrangement from the courtyard, with a central three-storey porch with datestone FAD 1641 flanked by two 19th-century crenellated outshuts and two-light mullion windows above. The continuation of the earlier range to the east (right) contains at least one 17th-century mullion and transom window.

The rear elevation to the north has an asymmetrical 5:1:4 window arrangement with five especially fine quality 12-over-9-pane late 17th-century sashes with thick glazing bars. The central projecting lateral hall stack is flanked by two 17th-century mullion and transom windows with lead cames to the glazing and two three-light cavetto-moulded mullion windows above. The two-storey range on the west has tall, partly blocked mullion and transom windows with three-light mullion windows above.

Interior

The front (south) block has outstanding quality circa 1730s French Rococo plasterwork, chimneypieces, and complete joinery. The corridor across the rear contains 19th-century plaster medallions of the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland. The cantilever open-well stair has a wrought-iron balustrade and fine circa 1730s or 1740s Rococo plasterwork depicting the arts and sciences.

The smoking room and library in the remodelled rear east wing have circa late 18th-century or early 19th-century ribbed moulded plasterwork decoration to the ceilings and fine 18th-century chimneypieces.

The earlier rear range on the north contains complete and unaltered 19th-century fittings and fixtures to the kitchen. Several of the granite doorframes have been resited, at least one having been narrowed when the arch was remodelled from a four-centred arch to a two-centred arch. The chamber above the servant's hall has a fine ovolo-moulded doorcase, probably contemporary with the 1641 remodelling, and early 17th-century panelling which has probably been reset in the bedroom on the east.

The eastern (right-hand) part of the earlier range was only partly accessible at the time of survey (1987) but contains cellars on the ground floor with massive crossbeams and close-set floor joists, largely unmoulded. The chambers above have fine quality panelling, probably used as state rooms by the Morice family in the mid to late 17th century, with bolection-moulded and raised-and-fielded panelling. A guide of 1860 described painted portraits of Charles II and James II which had been integral with the panelling. There is a late 17th-century stair with moulded ramped rail and turned balusters.

The roof structure of the earlier range has been replaced on the west side (the east side was not inspected). The west wing has six late 16th-century or early 17th-century trusses with morticed apices, diagonally set ridges, halved, lap-jointed and pegged collars, and trenched and threaded purlins. The front range has a two-span king-post roof.