Barnes Close

Barnes Close is a house largely dating to the early 19th century, with remodelling and refurbishment occurring around the late 19th century. The main block is stuccoed, with cob and brick bays on the front, and stone rubble at the rear right wing. It has a slate roof with gabled ends, axial, rear lateral, and end stacks, all featuring brick shafts. The house is arranged in a U shape on a hillside overlooking the Exe Valley, with a south-facing main range and rear wings that create a narrow service courtyard to the north.

The main range comprises three rooms, with an entrance on the left (west) side leading into a large hall behind the principal rooms. This hall contains an open staircase. A rear right kitchen wing includes a service stair, while the rear left wing is now used as a workshop. A map of 1765 shows a building called "Bedfords" on the site, suggesting a substantial structure at that date, though the architectural detail indicates early and late 19th-century work. The three-storey brick bays on the front elevation suggest a late 19th-century refronting. A 1883 sale advertisement, in the possession of the current owners, describes the house as a gentleman’s residence on a small sporting estate.

The exterior is two storeys and an attic. The symmetrical three-bay front features deep eaves carried on moulded timber brackets. There are two-storey, canted bays on the left and right, each with a separate hipped roof. A central gabled attic dormer contains a two-pane sash window. The remaining windows are four-pane sashes. Details on the front elevation include terracotta finials to the bays, key blocks to the ground-floor bay windows, and timber sun canopies with applied rosettes – some of which are missing. A half-glazed front door is located on the left (west) return, with a rectangular fanlight containing glazing bars, and a glazed gabled porch with a tiled floor. The left and right returns of the main range have late 18th/early 19th-century two-light casements; two casements on the west return are blocked with slate.

Inside, the early 19th-century stick baluster open well staircase has a ramped handrail. A late 19th/early 20th-century timber Tudor-style chimney-piece is in the stair hall. A front ground-floor room features a plaster cornice, deep skirting board, and a chimneypiece (originally upstairs) with tiling by William de Morgan. Victorian chimney-pieces remain elsewhere, some with metal grates. The staircase extends to heated attic accommodation. The roof is likely late 19th century and corresponds with the addition of the bays; the roof of the kitchen wing is a conventional 19th-century king post and strut arrangement. Barnes Close is a handsome house in a prominent position on the road from Bickleigh Bridge to Cadeleigh village.