Poltimore House

Poltimore House is a mansion of the Bampfylde family, who became Lords Poltimore after 1831. The building is largely composed of late 16th-century, late 17th-century, and 19th-century work, with a western range added in 1908. It incorporates decorative schemes of considerable quality.

An L-shaped Tudor house forms the rear and east ranges of what is now a large mansion that has undergone substantial expansion over centuries, enclosing and eventually almost completely filling an internal courtyard. The front block was built by Sir Coplestone Bampfylde (died 1691), possibly in 1681—the date is inscribed on a gatepier to the estate. In the mid-18th century the salon was redecorated; principal rooms were refurbished in the later 18th century; and the Hall was renovated in the early 19th century. A new range was attached to the left-hand side of the building in 1908. The building is rendered and painted white throughout, including its moulded stonework, and has slate hipped roofs. It is two storeys throughout, except for a service wing.

The front elevation retains its original eleven bays and appears much as it did in Edmund Prixeaux's drawing of 1735. The central three bays project slightly. All corners have rusticated quoins; pilasters mark each bay; a plat band, moulded cornice and parapet run across the façade. Nine dormer windows sit just visible above the parapet, though their gables have been lost. There are two axial stacks, now rendered and capped. The original entrance arrangement has lost its architrave and is obscured by a porch of 1831 with two Doric columns in antis, into which a glazed screen was inserted around 1970. The 1908 addition extends to the left of this range, comprising two bays set back slightly, with a parapet marginally higher and rusticated quoins. All windows feature timber sashes without horns. The front range windows have 9 panes above 9 panes, with 2 panes to the lower sashes and margin panes; the side range (seven bays, contemporary with the front and marking the Tudor work) has 2 panes to each sash plus margin panes to ground-floor windows, with 3 panes to upper and 6 to lower sashes. The 19th-century extension windows have 4 panes and margin panes with horns. The sixth and seventh bays are occupied by a single-storeyed 19th-century extension with rusticated quoins, a sash window at each end, and two blocked windows to the side.

The rear range comprises three separately gabled Tudor bays forming a seven-window range. Sash windows without horns have been inserted, with two having 12 panes to each sash, two with 12 above and 8 below, and four with 6 per sash. The original three-light four-centred headed windows remain in the gables, with stone jambs and mullions featuring cavetto mouldings; some lights retain leaded panes—28 to each light in the left-hand gable and 8 to the others, all with cames. To the right of the Tudor range, two wings occupy the elevation, one of two storeys and one of one storey. The left-hand elevation is 19th-century work of seven bays with sash windows: 2 panes per sash to the first floor and 4 panes above with 2 below to the ground floor. A single-storeyed rear extension is treated with rusticated pilaster buttresses. 19th-century outbuildings all feature wavy bargeboarding. Late 17th or 18th-century rainwater heads decorate the main range. On the courtyard elevation of the Tudor range, one three-light window survives in a gable wall with mullions and transoms. An angle stair-turret of the late 17th century, polygonal in section, displays two three-light windows to the basement, one to the ground floor, two to the first floor, and three to the attic; each light contains 10 leaded panes with cames.

Internally, most Tudor work has been removed except for one internal stone four-pointed arch chamfered with pedestal stops. Sir Coplestone Bampfylde's great rear open-well staircase runs through three floors from basement to attic, featuring square-profile newels with moulded caps surmounted by balls and pendants, with turned balusters. The north-east 19th-century vestibule contains what is believed to be a copy of a 17th-century plaster ceiling in the adjoining room, though original work may survive beneath the present false ceiling. The original 17th-century roof to the south range survives.

The Rococo salon, probably of the 1740s, occupies a quarter of the right-hand side, possibly on the site of the Tudor Hall, and is of high quality. Its ceiling features a central sunburst containing a female face, surrounded by foliage with swirls and herons. Oval wall mirrors between windows are framed by foliage and heads. End panelled doors have moulded architraves with egg-and-dart motifs and modillions to the cornice, topped by a broken pediment. A side door is similarly treated but without a pediment. Two large mirrors to inner walls are decorated with festoons and cherubs' heads. A white marble chimney piece with wooden surround sits on scrolled brackets with a centrally placed ram's head.

The Dining Room and Red Lounge flank the entrance hall. The former features Adam-style decorative plaster and woodwork detailing, with a ceiling containing roundels and corner panels of classical scenes, two fluted columns, and a moulded cornice. The Lounge is less elaborate, with two composite columns and a marble fire surround. The early 19th-century Hall is still entered through an 18th-century door with fanlight. Two rows of Ionic columns cross the hall at the foot of the Imperial stairs, which have metal openwork balusters. Corinthian columns and pilasters decorate the landing. The 1908 Banqueting Hall and other principal rooms display neo-classical detailing; the Banqueting Hall is particularly elaborate, with a rich plaster cornice and marble fire surround.

The whole of the parapet has been covered in bitumen, as has the slating over the 16th-century work. The front roof may have been raised, and the side roof is covered in various rooflights and solar panels.

The treaty for the surrender of Exeter (April 1646) was negotiated at Poltimore House.