Nutwell Court

NUTWELL COURT

Substantial country house at Lympstone. The manor belonged to the Dinhams, and parts of their late medieval chapel remain. A licence for the chapel is recorded in 1371, though there appears to have been a chapel here from the early 14th century, a date that accords well with the style of the remaining glass. The house was rebuilt by Lord Dinham (later Henry VII's Treasurer) in the 1480s. This was drastically remodelled in the 1750s by Sir Francis Drake, who demolished the gatehouse at great expense and converted the chapel into a library, thereby destroying part of the medieval roof. The house was largely rebuilt for the 2nd Lord Northcote in 1802 to plans by Samuel Pepys Cockerell. A major restoration was undertaken in the 1940s by George Northcott.

The chapel is of sandstone ashlar. The remainder of the house is clad in yellow mathematical tiles in Flemish bond fixed to laths, hung to resemble bricks in Flemish bond. The building has gabled-end and hipped roofs; those to the house are concealed by a balustrade. The plan comprises principal rooms ranged around a central rear stairwell with entrance hall to the left-hand (north) side. Service rooms occupy a rear wing running parallel to the chapel, with service accommodation in the attic. A ballroom is placed in the basement to the south-west. The building is 2 storeys and basement throughout, with the central part rising to an attic storey. The austere exterior, combined with an imaginative disposition of internal spaces, is reminiscent of Soane.

All windows have hornless sashes which, with the exception of the attic storey, have lost their glazing bars. A plat band runs between the basement and ground floor throughout.

The entrance front (north) is symmetrical with 6 bays and a balustrade. The ground floor features a 2-bay entrance with 2 Ionic columns and a plain cornice under a segmental arch with plain recessed tympanum. There are steps with stone balustrade and square-section newel. Two tall windows flank the entrance with small balustrades to their sills, and plain basement windows complete this elevation. The 1st floor has unadorned sash windows.

The garden front (west) is symmetrical in a 1:3:1 bay arrangement. The central bays project forward with an attic storey above a moulded cornice, originally with a hipped roof. These central bays have plain sash windows except to the basement, which has French windows. The side bays have a balustrade, a tripartite window to the 1st floor, and a large tripartite window to the ground floor under a segmental arch with depressed tympanum, giving onto balconies with railings (not part of Cockerell's original scheme). A lunette lights the basement.

The south front is a simple 5-bay composition with balustrade.

The chapel is recessed slightly from the south front and extends eastward. Its fabric appears medieval (especially the north wall), though it is difficult to be certain about the authenticity of the detailing. While some elements look convincingly 14th century, the chapel has undergone drastic restorations in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.

The chapel's south side comprises 4 bays, the western bay serving as an entrance. An external flight of steps leads to the door at 1st floor level, set under a segmental arch. Above the door are 3 trefoil-headed windows with transoms and a simple hood mould. A crypt below has three 2-light, square-headed windows with 20th-century replacement ovolo moulded surrounds and mullions. Above these, the chapel proper displays 3 Perpendicular windows (19th century), of 3-, 4- and 3-lights respectively, under hood moulds and block labels.

A crenellated parapet crowns the south side, each merlon containing weathered arms that look 14th century and include those of the Dinham family.

The east end has corner turrets with heavily crocketed finials, corbelled out above a parapet string course, each with a canopied niche containing a figure: St George (south-east corner, facing south) and the Archangel Michael (north-east corner, facing north). These figures are much weathered and probably late 14th century. The gable wall has coping with crockets and a 5-light Perpendicular window of 19th or early 20th-century date.

The north side displays crenellations that extend partway along. The fabric has been much disturbed, with a blocked medieval pointed window and evidence of doors at 1st floor level that once gave into parts of the house now destroyed. A ground floor door with concave moulding and stopped step is square-headed. A square-headed crypt window, 14th or 15th century, is present. Two cinquefoil-headed lights appear under a hood mould, and a medieval north arched doorway to the crypt is approached by 3 steps down.

The rear elevation has 4 irregular storeys, all except a 20th-century window set under depressed arches. The rear wing has a crenellated parapet (19th and 20th century) with three 2-light square-headed windows to the north above garages. The apex of the gable wall is crowned with an octagonal bell turret featuring pretty Gothic bell-openings.

Interior

The vestibule has 1940s glazed doors and a coffered barrel vault. The main entrance hall is distinguished by Ionic columns set axially, a chequered marble floor and wall medallions. The north-east room has a richly coffered ceiling with octagonal panels and an elaborate cornice. The north-west room is sparer in detail, with a central plaster oval and cornice.

An open-well semi-oval cantilever staircase features stone treads and risers, wrought-iron balusters and a wreathed rail. The stair-landing bressumers bear Greek key motifs. Doorcases have entablatures and architraves, panelled reveals and doors. A circular skylight set in a dome with fan motifs and Adamesque mural decoration completes the staircase composition.

The drawing room (west) has a central plaster octagon with columns bearing Composite capitals.

In the basement, the ballroom (south) features a large plaster rectangle to the ceiling containing strapwork and shells, together with an elaborate cornice with dentils and acanthus. A chimneypiece with Ionic marble columns has a frieze containing a half relief of Cupid. The antechamber likewise has a cornice. Internal panelled shutters are present throughout.

The chapel includes an antechamber containing a window with 14th-century glass showing 3 figures (Elijah, Daniel, Zachariah) of good quality with some canopy work, possibly from the original chapel. The chapel proper has a 7-bay roof which may in part be medieval, with principals on stone corbels, moulded arch braces, crenellated collars, trenched purlins, arcaded wall struts and a wall plate with fleurons. 19th-century fitted bookcases line the walls. Side windows have 19th-century coloured glass in the head light tracery. The east window contains good glass of circa 1900 depicting scenes from the life of Sir Francis Drake.

The crypt contains no surviving medieval detailing. Four square-section granite piers with moulded capitals divide the space axially beneath a brick groined vault. The window arches are chamfered.