Merrylands

Merrylands is a substantial detached house located in Lympstone, dating to the late 17th century with alterations and additions made in the 18th and 19th centuries. The main structure is plastered cob on stone footings, with brick detailing and a hipped slate roof concealed behind a parapet, incorporating some Delabole slates.

The original house comprised a single-depth range with principal rooms on either side of a central entrance hall, accompanied by a rear wing. An early 18th-century wing was added to the rear, followed by a left-hand front wing in the early 19th century and a single-storey entrance hall, which postdates the re-fenestration of the front elevation. The original 17th-century wing features external end stacks, with shafts constructed of small imported bricks, likely dating from the 17th century. Later stacks are found at the rear and the end of the front wing, with brick shafts.

The front facade presents an asymmetrical five-window range with a parapet. It features 12-pane hornless sash windows on the first floor, while the ground floor has two similar windows to the left of the doorway and one to the right. The doorway is topped by an early 18th-century canopy supported by decorated console brackets. A mid-19th-century, two-window brick wing is located to the left side, with 12-pane hornless sash windows; a similar sash window is found on the inner face above the doorway, also with shaped brackets. A later single-storey extension projects to the right side of the front, with sash windows and a door to the inner face.

The rear of the house displays a 17th-century wing with a four-light casement window on each floor. The first-floor window has 18 leaded panes, while the ground-floor window has 24, both likely dating from the late 17th or early 18th century. An extension to the left (southeast) adjacent to the 17th-century wing features early 18th-century fenestration; two two-light casement windows with 21 leaded panes per light are on the first floor, along with another window to the left of the door, and a two-light opening with stanchions. A brick stair turret with a single-light window and a 12-pane horned sash window marks the junction of these wings, probably dating from the late 19th century. A third rear wing, dating to the 19th century, has a two-light casement window on each floor. 19th-century casement windows are also present on the side elevations.

Internally, surviving 17th-century features include three-panelled doors, a panelled overmantel, a built-in dresser with a moulded cornice in the rear wing, and a scratch-moulded door under the stairs. One wing contains a chamfered ceiling beam with stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops, and a right-hand fireplace has a herringbone-brick back. Also present are two 18th-century panelled doors with drop handles and early-19th-century internal panelled shutters. The staircase is a 19th-century dog-leg design, with stick balusters. The original 17th-century staircase had been housed in an external stair turret. The roof is timber, dating from the late 17th century, constructed with morticed and pegged principals and trenched purlins.