Place Court

Place Court is a house that forms part of a former manor house which belonged to the Deans of Exeter before the Reformation. Parts of the building may date from the 14th century, but most of the structure appears to be from the early 16th century. The house was rearranged in the late 16th to early 17th century and altered again in the late 17th to early 18th century. It was renovated in 1983.

The building is mostly constructed of local stone rubble, with some sections rebuilt in late 17th to early 18th century brick. The rear wall is plastered. The porch is built of roughly dressed blocks of coursed local sandstone with putlog holes still visible. Beerstone (a local limestone) and volcanic trap ashlar are also used. The chimneys are stone, with the oldest having ashlar chimney shafts. The roofs are now slate but were probably originally thatched.

Form and Layout

What remains is basically a T-shaped building. The main block faces east-south-east and comprises the original hall with a through-passage at the right (northern) end. Beyond the passage is a two-room plan crosswing which projects slightly both front and back. Although these rooms lie on the lower side of the passage, they are high quality spaces. The first floor room is presumably the master chamber since it has a chapel attached in the room above the porch. The front rooms of the crosswing have a lateral stack backing onto the passage. The hall has a projecting rear lateral stack. It was floored and subdivided in the late 16th to early 17th century with an end stack for the first floor fireplace. The stairwell was probably built at this time, although the present stairs are later. There was probably another crosswing once at the southern end and possibly more buildings to the rear. The service extension now behind the crosswing dates from the 19th century. The house is two storeys throughout.

Exterior

The front elevation has a 2:1:1 window arrangement. The two-window section to the hall contains 20th century casements with glazing bars. Here the first floor front and back walls have been rebuilt with late 17th to early 18th century brick. The passage doorway at the right end of the hall is an early 16th century Beerstone Tudor arch with a broad chamfered surround, containing an ancient plank door with plain strap hinges.

A two-storey gabled porch stands in front. Its Beerstone outer arch has a two-centred, almost round head with a richly moulded surround. The room above was a small chapel with an arch-headed Beerstone window on the front, featuring two lights with Decorated tracery. On the left side is a small two-light window with cinquefoil heads built of volcanic stone, with a similar single light on the right side.

To the right of the porch is the gable end of the crosswing, containing an early 16th century Beerstone three-light window with hollow-chamfered mullions and hoodmoulds on each floor. All the stone windows contain rectangular panes of leaded glass. The hall roof is gable-ended to the left and hipped to the right. The crosswing and extensions are gable-ended.

The long northern side of the crosswing contains an irregular arrangement of one- and two-light Beerstone windows similar to those on the front, including a 20th century three-light copy at ground floor rear. At the end, a flight of 20th century steps leads to a first floor doorway—an early 16th century Beerstone two-centred, nearly round-headed arch with chamfered surround. Set on the inside of the wall, this was evidently once an internal doorway, suggesting either that the crosswing once extended further westwards or that there was once a garderobe turret here (it does lead from the master chambers).

The rear wall of the hall and the extensions contain 20th century casements with glazing bars. The rear passage doorway is identical to the front one and lies behind a small 20th century single storey extension. The rear hall stack has weathered offsets and a tall double chimney shaft of local sandstone ashlar. The end wall of the hall block is blind, but a small section of plaster has fallen away at first floor level revealing what appears to be part of a relieving arch over a fireplace. The chimney shaft directly above is Beerstone ashlar.

Interior

The interior is of considerable interest, showing a long and complex structural history with work from several building phases. The through-passage has a stone wall to the crosswing and an oak plank-and-muntin screen to the former hall. The screen has chamfered muntins with cut diagonal stops and includes two flat-arched doorways. It appears to date from the late 16th to early 17th century and is related to the flooring and subdivision of the hall.

There are two small rooms on the other side of the screen and a larger room beyond. The rear room houses the stair (apparently a 20th century copy of a late 17th to early 18th century dogleg stair with turned balusters) and a lobby connecting to the room beyond. The subdivision of the hall appears to have caused a reduction in the size of the hall fireplace. Its mutilated remains have been uncovered and only part of its soffit-chamfered oak lintel remains. The crossbeam here has square corners and may be as late as the 18th century.

On the floor above there is a crosswall directly over the ground floor crosswall. It is a late 16th to early 17th century oak frame in which riven oak laths are slotted into individual holes on the edges of the studs, thus forming a ladder backing for the cob infill. Some traces of red paint suggest that the wall has a painted frieze towards the larger end room. This room has a fireplace of the same date in Beerstone with a chamfered surround and rounded corners on the lintel. Here both side walls have been rebuilt in late 17th to early 18th century brick and the roof probably dates from the same time, although it looks earlier, being mortise-tenoned and pegged together. It comprises three bays with large A-frame trusses on the beams which are soffit-chamfered and show over the chambers.

The Crosswing

From the passage to the crosswing there is a stone wall. To the rear room there is a Beerstone doorway identical to those either end of the passage. The front room, however, has a 17th century oak doorframe with chamfered surround and scroll stops. The front room has a six-panel false intersecting beam ceiling—"false" in that the axial lengths appear to be nailed to the crossbeams and may well have been added later. The beams have broad soffit chamfers and are unstopped. They are presumably early 16th century. The fireplace here may be an insertion since the stack projects very slightly into the passage. It is built of Beerstone and is missing its original lintel, which might have been hooded. The jambs have a broad chamfer containing a hollow panel and straight cut stops. The partition between the two ground floor rooms is oak framed but plastered over. That above it on the first floor is 17th century and cob nogged.

The first floor front room fireplace has a Beerstone fireplace with an ovolo surround and runout stops. The lintel bears many old graffiti, some featuring sailing boats and others crowned heads. To the left there is a two-centred Beerstone arch doorway with moulded surround leading to the chapel. Only the front three bays of the 16th century roof survive above the later ceiling. The A-frame trusses have chamfered arch braces, three sets of chamfered butt purlins and two sets of windbraces, the upper ones inverted. The chapel has a wagon roof and there is a small window in the back wall which must originally have overlooked the open hall.

Historical Context

Place Court is an interesting house. It seems likely that the house was much improved in the late 15th to early 16th century and then much rearranged after the Reformation. It was once a larger house. The pace of alterations through the 16th and 17th centuries makes definitive interpretations very difficult. The house has an attractive setting in extensive grounds.

Place Court became the house of the Deans of Exeter when the parish and its revenues were given to the first Dean of Exeter, who is also recorded as the first rector of Colaton Raleigh. A chapel is first mentioned in 1335.