Heyswood House

Heyswood House is a Grade II listed building dating from approximately 1850, with extensions added around 1930, located near Wembworthy.

The house is constructed of snecked local mudstone with a small section of the original rear faced in brick, and features original granite detailing. Stone rubble chimney stacks are topped with ornate brick chimney shafts. The roofs are laid with slate and retain some original crested ridge tiles.

The original house followed a small 3-room plan cottage facing south-east with an L-shaped layout, comprising 2 rooms in the main block and a third room at right angles projecting forward from the left (south-west) end. The left room of the main block has projecting rear lateral stacks, while the front wing has projecting lateral stacks on each end, with the inner one serving only the first floor. Around 1930, a 3-room extension was added to the left, continuing the line of the main block into the hillside, with the end room being single storey and opening onto a terrace at first floor level, served by rear lateral stacks. A second extension from the same period was added to the right, set back slightly from the front and under a separate roof. The house is 2 storeys throughout.

The architectural style is Elizabethan Gothic, with the 1930 extensions finished sympathetically in the same manner. The original house displays 1 window on each floor to the main block and end of the wing. Granite diagonal buttresses mark the corners. Windows feature granite ashlar chamfered reveals containing timber mullioned windows with round-headed lights. The wing end has 3 lights to the ground floor and 2 to the first floor. The main block has 5 lights to the ground floor, though the first floor window is a replacement. The windows contain leaded glass; the wing windows display an intricate pattern of tiny panes. The main block features an arch-headed granite door with moulded surround and sunk spandrel. A pent roof with scallop-shaped slates resting on curving brackets and large Gothic-style bosses runs along the front above the door and adjacent window. A similar hood once adorned the front of the wing but has since been removed.

The roof displays unusually deep eaves projecting on open Gothic-style curving brackets, with first floor windows interrupting them. Roofs have hipped ends. The original chimney shafts are large and impressive, constructed of brick in a variety of star or circular sections in Elizabethan style, displaying considerable decorative detail. The outer side of the wing has a 2-window front.

The left extension has a front elevation with a 1:1:2 window pattern and includes a slightly projecting porch with sandstone round-headed outer arch. A rubble revetment wall with embattled top rises to the terrace. The right extension has a 1-window front. All extensions are finished in the same style, and most windows contain leaded glass.

The interior contains Tudor Gothic joinery and chimney pieces. Heyswood House formerly stood within the grounds of Eggesford House. According to the owners, it was built for a valetudinarian son of the 4th Earl of Portsmouth. The architectural style closely resembles that of Eggesford House, which was designed by Thomas Lee of Barnstaple, notably in the impressive display of Elizabethan-style brick chimney shafts.