Kerswell House

Kerswell House is a house dating to approximately 1840. It is constructed of sandstone rubble with Beer stone dressings, and has slate roofs with gabled ends to all wings. The design is an asymmetrical example of Tudor domestic style with varied detailing, and it is of group value. The house is two storeys high with attic rooms in each wing.

The front entrance is characterized by two wings of differing widths, a projecting gabled porch, and a recessed stack positioned between them. The gables have coping with pinnacle and pendants at the apexes. Single-light attic windows are present in the wings. The right-hand wing features a first-floor stone oriel with three lights, each containing timber sashes with margin panes. A two-light window on the ground floor has a stone transom and mullion, with one pane in the upper light and two in the lower, all with margin panes. The left-hand wing is narrower, with a first-floor window of two lights containing stone mullions and two four-pane sashes to each light; a single-light ground-floor window also contains two four-pane sashes, both under heavy hood-moulds. The porch has a moulded pinnacle above a four-centred arch, and a square-headed hood-mould with floriated spandrels. The recessed stack creates depth and features a corbel table below four grouped and moulded Beer stone chimneys.

The garden front is a more informal composition of three units. The central wing has a gable end with a parapet and pinnacles at the apex and angles, and below an attic window, a two-storey window bay with a crenellated frieze dividing the storeys. Three-light windows are set within the bay, with one light to each side, beneath hood moulds, all sashes having two panes with margin panes. To the left of this wing is a two-light window above and a three-light ground-floor window, each having two six-pane sashes. To the right of the wing are two first-floor windows with two four-pane sashes to each light, and a single two-light ground-floor window with six panes to each sash. All windows on the garden front are under hood moulds; all sashes are contemporary timber. The other elevations are simpler, with windows having moulded architraves and later barred timber sashes.

The writer Eden Phillpotts (1862-1960) lived and died at Kerswell House for many years.