Shorton Manor

Shorton Manor is a house with origins likely dating to the late 16th century or earlier, significantly altered in the early 19th century and around 1880, with 20th-century renovations. The construction primarily uses local red breccia rubble with modern pointing, and the roof is covered in asbestos slate, gabled at the left end and peaked over the right-end tower. There are stacks with rendered shafts.

The main block has a single-depth, three-room plan, although the precise location of the original cross passage is uncertain. A rear door is located to the right of the centre, while the front door, to the left of the centre, may have been the original entrance. Evidence suggests a potential former stair on the opposite side. There are two rear right lateral stacks, plus a left-end stack. A heated wing extends at a right angle to the rear-left, with its own end stack. The house underwent substantial changes in the 19th century, including a change in roof pitch and a raising of the first-floor height. Around 1880, the right-hand end was raised to a three-story tower in the late Italianate style, typical of villas in Torquay, while preserving the stump of the original rear right-hand lateral stack.

The front facade presents as a two-story main block and a three-story tower, with an asymmetrical arrangement of four windows on the left and three on the right. The main block features deep eaves. A late 20th-century lean-to porch with a slated roof is located to the left of the centre, leading to a six-panel door with glazed upper panels and fielded lower panels. Four ground-floor and three first-floor plastic windows with diamond-leaded panes are also present. A conservatory with plastic windows projects to the left end. The three-story tower has deep eaves supported by curved brackets. The ground floor has two plastic windows, while the narrow first and second-floor windows are original. Three first-floor square-headed one-over-one-pane horned sashes and three similar second-floor round-headed windows are visible. The right return of the tower retains its original second-floor round-headed sash windows. Windows on other elevations are late 20th-century plastic replacements. The rear elevation has a boarded door under a pent roof, alongside a pump.

Internally, a plank and muntin oak screen partition separates the centre room from the left-hand room. The centre room contains a lateral stack with a 20th-century chimney-piece, with evidence of an earlier, original fireplace discovered during renovations, though it lacked a lintel but retained a bread oven opening. During renovations to the left gable end, the line of an earlier, steeper, gabled roof was revealed. Historical research suggests the building may have been constructed in 1567. It was purchased by the Singer family around 1919, and the estate was later sold off in parcels that have since been developed.