Bickleigh Castle Gatehouse

Bickleigh Castle Gatehouse

The gatehouse range of a fortified manor house, dating from the early 15th century with alterations in the 16th and 17th centuries, and substantial renovations in the 1920s and 30s.

The building is constructed of volcanic trap rubble with some Beerstone dressings, beneath an asbestos slate roof behind parapets. It features end stacks and a front lateral stack. The gatehouse forms an east-facing range that was once part of a substantial complex arranged around a rear courtyard. The west range has now disappeared above ground, the south range (Old Court) is now a separate property, and the north range is separately listed. The surviving structures represent only a fragment of what may once have stood on the site, with a long history of evolution and addition to the original manor house complex.

The gatehouse itself follows a single-depth, three-storey plan (the second storey incomplete). Its principal feature is a vaulted central entrance dating from circa the early 15th century, with heated ground floor rooms, one positioned to the right. A large first floor room, probably originally subdivided into smaller chambers, is heated by both the front lateral stack and the right end stack. Projecting rectangular turrets rise from the front at both left and right: the front left turret contains a stair, while the right-hand turret may have served as a garderobe. Similar turrets project to the rear. Adjoining the south-west corner is a rounded, ruinous stair turret that appears to have been part of a linking block between the gatehouse range and Old Court.

The manor house property passed to the Courtenay family around 1400 and remained with them until 1681, when it transferred to the Carews in the early 16th century. After the English Civil War, Sir Henry Carew is recorded as having reconstructed the range, which is marked by armorial bearings over the western arch. The gateway may have been reconstructed or newly built at this date. Substantial restoration work was undertaken in the 1920s and 30s, including raising the left turret to the second storey and introducing newel stairs into both front turrets.

Exterior: The building presents two storeys to view, with the remains of a third storey visible in an additional tier of windows set within the parapet. The rear elevation, facing the courtyard, displays two storeys. The front elevation is approximately symmetrical, with two windows flanking a triple-chamfered depressed segmental arch set between pilaster buttresses. The two first floor windows are four-light mullioned windows, probably of the 17th century, with chamfered mullions, relieving arches, hoodmoulds and label stops. The two second floor windows are possibly 15th century, featuring cinquefoil-headed lights, stanchions and saddle bars. The arms of Carew impaling Courtenay appear over the gateway. The rear elevation is approximately symmetrical, with the gateway arch centrally positioned and flanked by three-light Ham Hill windows with trefoil-headed lights and relieving arches, probably part of the 1930s alterations. Two large first floor four-light mullioned windows match those on the east elevation. Both turrets have cusped lights, and the right-hand turret features a lean-to roof. A blocked first floor doorway at the south end of the building presumably led into the adjoining rounded ruinous stair turret.

Interior: The gateway contains two bays of chamfered rib vaulting carried on engaged shafts with carved bosses bearing heraldic shields. Chamfered two-centred arched doorways lead from the gateway into the ground floor rooms. The south room, known as the 'Armoury', features a chamfered inner arch to its east window and a fireplace with chamfered jambs below a re-sited Beerstone carving, probably 16th century, depicting a demi-figure flanked by lion supporters and retaining some traces of ancient paint. The north room, the 'guardroom', contains a panelled dado with panelling of differing dates, some incorporating a frieze of strapwork, and a 17th century fireplace with a chamfered lintel carried on stone corbels. The 17th century framed stair in the north-west turret features turned balusters, a moulded handrail and onion-shaped finials and pendants, though the stair has been re-sited. The large first floor room contains a 1930s chimneypiece to the lateral stack, designed with a Tudor arch and bearing the arms of Colonel Jasper Henson. A gallery at the south end was introduced in the 1930s with Tudor panelling. The north-east turret is accessed through a chamfered doorframe and contains a drain arrangement.

This is an outstanding building of considerable importance, intimately connected with the Courtenay and Carew families' long occupation of the site.