Wiscombe Park

Wiscombe Park is a country house of 1826, designed by J. Power of Colyton, with internal modernisation dating to circa 1880. It is constructed of plastered local stone rubble with Beerstone ashlar detailing, featuring stone rubble stacks with Beerstone ashlar octagonal divided chimneyshafts and moulded coping, and slate roofs. The house is arranged in a U-plan, with the main block facing south-east and extending over two depths beneath parallel roofs. A central entrance hall and main staircase lead to the rear of the building, with principal rooms to the left, including a large principal parlour on the front elevation, and the dining room to the right, with a kitchen and a projecting service wing beyond. A large billiard room projects at right angles to the rear of the left end, complemented by a conservatory on its outer, south-western side. Most rooms are heated by a series of axial and gable-end stacks. The house is primarily two storeys high, with attics, the billiard room being a single storey. It is built in a Gothick style.

The symmetrical front facade has five windows. Tall windows with two lights and cusped cinquefoil heads are set beneath Tudor-style hoodmoulds, containing narrow sash windows with glazing bars on the first floor. The central doorway features double doors with Gothick panelling under a 2-centred arch fanlight with Y-tracery glazing bars. A Beerstone ashlar porch is supported by pairs of clustered pilaster columns with moulded caps under a frieze of quatrefoil panels; the embattled coping is topped with an apex cross, and the arch is cusped. Set-back buttresses with weathered offsets appear at each corner of the main block, along with a Beerstone ashlar parapet with Gothic pinnacles at each end. A similar parapet is present to the rear of the main block and round the billiard room block. The front roof is gable-ended with coping, incorporating three gabled dormers with shaped bargeboards. The left end of the main block presents a three-window front mirroring the Gothic windows of the front elevation. The billiard room block terminates in a semi-octagonal end, lit principally through a cupola. The conservatory has undergone partial rebuilding, but retains its 19th-century tile floor. A large arch-headed window, containing stained glass and an early Decorated style tracery, illuminates the staircase at the rear of the main block. The rear service block is largely unadorned, with mostly plain 16-pane sash windows.

The interior contains significant original and late 19th-century joinery and detailing. The stair hall is a particularly impressive feature, illuminated by the large stained glass window. The open-well staircase has an open string, slender turned balusters, and a curtail step. The front parlour boasts a large and ornate chimneypiece of Italian marble, adorned with carved heads representing the Seasons, complete with brass lamp holders; the owner reports it was exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Wiscombe is a manor recorded in the Domesday Book and was held by the Bonville family in the 13th century.