Fursdon House

Fursdon House

Country house and long-time seat of the Fursdon family, documented since at least 1259. The building has origins in the 17th century or earlier, though it was thoroughly remodelled in 1732 by Richard Strong of Minehead for George Fursdon. Further alterations followed in 1792, and a significant programme of additions was undertaken between 1813 and 1818 by James Green of Exeter (the Country Surveyor) for George Sydenham Fursdon. Modifications were made during the 1970s and 1980s for David Fursdon.

The house is constructed of stone, cement-rendered and blocked out on the front elevation, with roughcast to the rear. It has a slate hipped roof behind a parapet and rendered chimney stacks.

The plan is fundamentally Georgian in character, though an early core survives and much of the fabric may date to the 17th century or earlier. The house is H-shaped with a south-facing main range, west and east crosswings, a one-room library addition at the west end, and four irregular rear wings. The entrance opens into a heated entrance hall positioned to the right of the left (west) crosswing. This wing is divided between the great parlour at the front and an open well stair to the rear. The right (east) crosswing contains a kitchen at the front with service rooms and a service stair behind.

Documentary evidence and carpentry details uncovered during recent renovation indicate that the 1732 remodelling preserved the scale and general outline of the earlier building. A will of 1652 suggests the house was already H-shaped at that date, with an open hall in the centre and storeyed wings—presumably a parlour wing to the west and a kitchen wing to the east. Carpentry details indicate the possible position of a cross or through passage to the right of centre and suggest cruck construction. In 1732 the front wall was rebuilt, a central entrance created, and the east wing rebuilt to match the parlour wing and provide a symmetrical front elevation. The house was refenestrated with sash windows. A drawing from 1774 shows a pedimented doorcase to the central entrance.

The most significant alterations occurred between 1813 and 1818 under James Green. He added a fashionable severe Greek Doric five-bay colonnade across the front between the crosswings, relocated the main entrance to the left of centre into a small entrance hall (presumably converting the 1732 entrance hall into a principal room), and added the library at the west end. The open well stair to the rear of the west crosswing appears to date from the early 19th century. Minor modifications were made in the 1970s and 1980s, including the conversion of rear service rooms to a small museum.

The front elevation presents two storeys with a symmetrical nine-bay composition, plus an additional slightly set-back two-bay block at the left end. A parapet with dentil cornice runs the length of the elevation. The five central bays of the main range are recessed between the two-bay crosswings and are fronted by a five-bay Greek Doric portico with fluted columns and a plain entablature. Symmetrically placed doorways flank the portico. First-floor windows are three over six-pane sashes with thick glazing bars; ground-floor windows are twelve-pane sashes. The library block at the left has three over three-pane sashes on the first floor and eighteen-pane sashes on the ground floor.

The rear elevation is irregular with four gabled and hipped wings. The westernmost wing is the principal stair wing, featuring a large tripartite sash stair window. The easternmost wing contains the servants' stair and has a paired sash window with 24 panes per sash and thick glazing bars. Most rear-elevation windows are 18th and 19th-century sashes, except for two ground-floor casements of approximately 18th-century date, which are three-light windows with square leaded panes and ornamental iron handles.

Interior features visible from before the 18th century include ground-floor carpentry at the east end, including what appear to be cruck feet, an ovolo-moulded 17th-century doorframe, and several stopped beams. The great parlour in the left crosswing is entirely lined with grained Jacobean panelling featuring reeded Ionic pilasters and a deep strapwork frieze. The panelling is not believed to be in its original location. Although the chimneypiece is dated 1601—possibly the date of the carved figures in the overmantel—the design of the surround itself is likely 18th-century. A 16th-century roll-moulded chimneypiece in the entrance wall was revealed in the late 19th century. The living room in the main range (formerly the 1732 entrance hall) is finely proportioned with a plaster cornice, a pair of doors on the west and east walls, and an 18th-century chimneypiece with fruit carving and an integral surround to a mirror in the overmantel. The entrance hall, with two Doric columns and a plaster cornice, and the library are both by James Green. The library is very complete, with a plaster cornice, a black marble chimneypiece with Doric columns, and recessed bookcases. The principal stair is an open well, possibly also Green's work, with stick balusters and a wreathed handrail. The service stair has stick balusters, turned newels, and a ramped handrail. Additional features of interest include first-floor chimneypieces and joinery, and a small first-floor room overlooking the rear garden with early 18th-century bolection-moulded panelling.

Fursdon is a good example of a modestly scaled gentleman's house, very complete externally and internally, with considerable landscape value. James Green's contribution is particularly important. He is best known as an engineer, but his two previously recorded works as an architect—Buckland Filleigh House in Devon and St Davids Church in Exeter (demolished 1897)—were both designed in the Greek Doric manner. According to the architectural historian Howard Colvin, these buildings give Green a place after Harrison of Chester as an early exponent of the Greek Revival in the provinces.

The Fursdon archive contains numerous documents relating to the building history of the house.