Ivedon House

Ivedon House is a gentleman’s villa, likely an early 19th-century refurbishment of an 18th-century house, with alterations dating to the late 1960s and early 1970s. The house is built of colourwashed rendered stone with Beerstone quoins, which have been rendered-over; it has a slate roof with gabled ends and end and axial stacks with rendered shafts. It stands on the outskirts of Honiton, in the south-east corner of Awliscombe parish, as part of a group of 18th and 19th-century villas.

The plan is L-shaped, with principal rooms in a south-facing main range and a rear left (north-west) service wing at a right angle. The main entrance, moved circa late 1960s/early 1970s, is now located on the right (east) end, leading into an axial passage with the staircase. The rooms include a library (possibly originally the dining room) at the left (west) end, a south-facing drawing room in the centre, and a smaller room to the east (right), which was originally the entrance hall with a front door set forward (south) of its present position. An earlier partition between the former entrance hall and the drawing room was removed when the entrance was repositioned. The service wing houses the kitchen and unheated service rooms.

The two-panel doors on the first floor suggest origins in the 18th century, though this might reflect the common use of older-style joinery on upper floors. Ground floor features appear to date to the 1830s, possibly reflecting the construction of the canted bay to the centre front.

The south (garden) front is asymmetrical with three bays; the centre bay is two stories and canted, with moulded cornices to both ground and first floors. This central bay features a probably early 19th-century paired sash with 12 panes to the first floor and 6 over 9 to the ground floor, whereas the returns have single sashes with 12 panes to the first floor and 4 over 6 to the ground floor. Tripartite early 19th-century sashes with 12 panes in the centre on the first floor and 8 panes in the centre on the ground floor are found in the left and right bays. The right return has a circa late 1960s/early 1970s Georgian style doorcase and a 20th-century front door. The rear wing exhibits a mix of early 19th-century sashes with glazing bars and 19th and early 20th-century small-pane timber casements. The service wing includes an open bellcote with a bell and weathervane, likely from the early 19th century.

Inside, the ground floor retains good early 19th-century features, including panelled doors, marble chimney-pieces, and a stick baluster staircase with a mahogany handrail. The first floor features a set of probably 18th-century two-pane doors (two of which also survive on the ground floor of the service wing), and two early 19th-century chimney-pieces with iron grates. The real (north) end of the service wing, with walls of considerable thickness, is roofed along a west/east axis, and may represent a pre-18th-century agricultural building incorporated into the house structure. Ivedon House is a handsome villa with interesting interior features, and it contributes to group value with other detached villas set within the woodland in the south-east corner of the parish.