The Bear's Hut 220 Metres North North West of Killerton House is a Grade II* listed building in the East Devon local planning authority area, England. First listed on 20 May 1985. A Victorian Summer house. 1 related planning application.

The Bear's Hut 220 Metres North North West of Killerton House

WRENN ID
ghost-rubble-dew
Grade
II*
Local Planning Authority
East Devon
Constituency
Exmouth and Exeter East MP: David Reed (Con)
Country
England
Date first listed
20 May 1985
Type
Summer house
Period
Victorian
OS grid reference
SS 971 001
Coordinates
50.79179, -3.46071
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Bear's Hut is a summer house located 220 meters north-northwest of Killerton House, built before 1831. It features split timbers beneath a hipped wheat reed thatched roof and is a single-storey structure with a three-bay front. The center bay projects and includes a window or oriel supported by struts, consisting of five lights with 16 leaded panes and margin panes for each light, positioned to the left of the entrance.

At the rear, there is a lancet window set into a massive hewn tree trunk, which serves as the 'east' window for a single-celled 'hermitage' that has three internal divisions. This tiny chapel has two side windows, one with two lights and the other with three lights, all featuring ogee heads. The three-light window retains its original chamfered jambs, mullions, and some glazing bars.

Inside, the 'hermitage' includes a rustic wooden 'chancel arch', 'vaulted arch', 'vaulted apse', and 'sedilia', all covered in deer skins and floored with deers' knuckle-bones. The lancet window contains fragments of high-quality painted glass, including a dated panel that reads: 'Reverendus adm : ac Amplisimus Dominus David Brockmans S.T.B.F. Decanns halselensis et peullis : Capituli inunsterblisiensis Canonicus necnon huius conventus confesarius. Anno 1696'. Other glass fragments depict faces and bits of Latin block script.

The central room features a corner fireplace, is lined and roofed in matting, and is decorated with pine cones, while the floor is inlaid with sections of oak tree trunk. The right-hand room is cobbled, with walls and roof made of wicker work. Access to the hut is via a path of four steps. The Bear's Hut is illustrated in a set of drawings by John Gendall of Exeter from 1831 and is noted as an interesting and eccentric early 19th-century piece of picturesque rustic garden furniture.

Local climate

The Bear's Hut 220 Metres North North West of Killerton House receives an average of 850 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 58% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 67% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 22 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 77% of listed buildings. Of these, 8 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • No EPC on record for this property
  • No sale records on file
  • Related listed building consents — 1 application
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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Nearby listed buildings

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  2. Park Lodge Grade II 563 m
  3. Chapel of the Holy Evangelists Grade I 569 m
  4. Cubbyclose Cottage Grade II 644 m
  5. Haglis Cottage Grade II 703 m
  6. Francis Court Farmhouse Grade II 868 m
  7. Danes Cottages Grade II 869 m
  8. South Lodge Grade II 934 m
  9. Telephone Kiosk Grade II 942 m
  10. Ellerhayes Bridge Grade II* 1.1 km