Mount Stone

Mount Stone is a small country house built in the mid-to-late 18th century, with a south wing rebuilt in 1780 after a fire and extended and altered around 1833 by John Foulston. It is situated within an urban setting, originally built into a former quarry. The house is constructed with rubble walls covered in slate hanging, featuring dry slate roofs with projecting front eaves. Rendered axial and lateral stacks are present.

The original plan involves a double-depth layout: the original part is on the left with an outshut to the rear left, connected to an 18th-century wing at right angles, which was later partially incorporated into a deeper extension at the rear right. A large central stair hall is located at the front, with an 18th-century service stair positioned behind. A later lean-to is found at the far left.

The front façade has two storeys and a 3:1:3 window range, with the central stair bay taller and under a hipped roof. Original 12-pane hornless sash windows with thick glazing bars are present on the first floor to the left. Late 19th-century horned sashes are below, flanking a narrow doorway with a 4-panel door and glazed top panels. The central bay features a spoked oculus above the mid-floor stair window, incorporating margin panes within a moulded architrave. Around 1833, 16-pane hornless sash windows feature to the right. The glazing bars have been removed from the ground-floor centre and right sashes. The right-hand return front is an entrance front with a blind façade except for a c.1833 distyle-in-antae Doric doorway, featuring margin panes to the overlight and sidelights, flanking an original panelled door. The rear of the house includes at least one 18th-century sash window with thick glazing bars and a similar sash to the left of the outshut; the remaining windows are mostly early 19th-century hornless sashes with glazing bars.

The interior retains many original and early 19th-century features, including an 18th-century modillion cornice and shutters with fielded panels on the ground floor to the left. The chamber above has palm and acanthus cornices, with ovolo-moulded shutters. A chinoiserie service stair is also present. Original 18th-century cornices are found in the rear wing. Other interior details include an early 19th-century ceiling cornice with an ornately carved band, a chimneypiece with a "flying horseshoe" iron grate in the front room to the right, and a moulded cornice to the room behind.

Mount Stone is a notable survival from a period when Stonehouse was a rural part of the Plymouth district, later developing into a town. The house is unusual due to its slate-hung elevations, and the combination of 18th-century and later features added by Foulston.