Old Postern

Old Postern is a substantial house with a complex building history spanning five centuries. Originally the parsonage, it now serves as an educational establishment. The building comprises a 15th-century core that was remodelled and extended in the late 16th or early 17th century, with some early 18th-century alterations, an early 19th-century extension, and significant remodelling and extension circa 1860 by architect William White. It was further altered and restored in 1928-9 by Rex Gardner as a temporary residence for the Elmhursts while Dartington Hall was being restored.

The house is constructed of rendered stone with stone dressings, with exposed limestone rubble visible at the rear. The roofs are covered in reg and scantle slates with gabled ends and crested ridge tiles; some early crested ridge tiles survive over the original front range. The chimneys are rebuilt limestone stacks with weathered set-offs.

Plan and Development

The 15th-century house occupies the main front range and consists of a large five-bay open hall with a three-bay lower end to the left, possibly also open to the roof. The original plan is now probably incomplete, and it is uncertain whether the house originally extended beyond the hall at the higher right-hand end. However, a clean late 16th or early 17th-century truss on a right-angle axis at this end in a two-storey rear wing, along with early 17th-century moulded ceiling beams in the inner room, suggests work of this period. The flooring of the lower end and presumably the hall was probably contemporary with the construction of the higher end wing, based on similarly moulded early 17th-century beams over the screens passage. Beyond the inner rooms at the right-hand end is a small early 17th-century two-storey single-room plan wing.

Some improvements were carried out in the early 18th century, evidenced by early 18th-century panelled doors in various parts of the house. In the early 19th century, a large wing was built at right angles at the lower end, flush with the front and extending to the rear, with a stairwell in the inside angle.

Circa 1860, William White restored and extended the house significantly. He removed the floor from the hall only, remodelled the front in Gothic style, and built a second open hall behind the original hall with a gallery on two sides that provided first-floor access from the main stairs (which he replaced) at the lower end to the first floor at the higher end. Service ranges around three sides of the rear courtyard appear to be largely White's work but may incorporate some earlier fabric. The kitchen, which fills the centre of the courtyard and is open to the roof, seems to be part of White's rebuilding of the rear services.

In 1928-9, Rex Gardner, working for the Elmhursts, restored the house and removed much of William White's work. The front elevation was simplified, including the hall window, the removal of a bay window at the lower end, and the removal of battlements from the oriel on the porch. At the lower west side of the early 19th-century wing, Gardner added a lean-to roof extension in the form of a summerhouse. Inside, Gardner altered White's timber gallery in the rear hall, destroying some fine carpentry. The early 19th-century rooms at the lower end have also been simplified, but some of the chimneypieces have been replaced by Bernard Leach tile surrounds.

Exterior

The south front is of two storeys with a single-storey open hall and is asymmetrical in composition. The original hall range occupies the centre, with a 20th-century five-light stone mullion and transom hall window to the right of centre, featuring a hoodmould and leaded panes. To the left of centre stands the two-storey porch, the front of which breaks forward with a gable in the parapet and a first-floor oriel with three arch-headed lights. The ground-floor entrance has a granite two-centred arch doorway with large ovolo moulding and keeled cushion stops. The porch has a moulded string and cornice, and at the sides are buttresses with set-offs and slit windows on both ground and first floors. The granite inner doorway has a two-centred arch, a cavetto and chamfer moulding, and keeled cushion stops; the 19th-century door has cover moulds and wrought iron strap hinges.

Gables terminate the left and right ends of the original range over the lower and higher ends, with three-light first-floor windows and four-light ground-floor windows, all 20th-century metal frame casements with leaded panes, although the right-hand first-floor window retains its old wooden frame. A two-storey, two-window addition to the higher right-hand end has a small gable to the right and two three-light windows and one simple light window, with 20th-century metal frame casements with leaded panes in old wooden frames.

At the lower left end, the large early 19th-century addition has a gabled hipped roof and a large 20th-century three-light stone mullion ground-floor window, a smaller four-light first-floor window, and a five-light window to the ground floor left in the lean-to extension, all with hoodmoulds and 20th-century metal frame casements with leaded panes.

At the rear are service ranges on three sides of a central covered yard (kitchen), built of limestone rubble with scantle slate roofs with half-hipped half dormers, and a late 19th-century shouldered arch doorway on the west side.

Interior

The five-bay open hall and the further three bays over the lower end form an impressive medieval space. The nine trusses are raised (possibly jointed) cruck trusses resting on wooden corbels and a moulded wall-plate. The cambered collars are morticed to the principals, and the chamfered arch braces are stopped in two places on either arch to take bosses. There are four tiers of butt purlins; the massive butt purlin at collar level is square set, and the ridge piece is diagonally set. Some of the arch braces and purlins have been replaced. The three bays over the lower end have similar open trusses, and at the lower end there is a truss against the end wall. All eight bays of the roof structure appear to be smoke-blackened.

The truss at the higher end of the hall is against the end wall, where it is uncertain whether it was originally a closed truss or whether the open roof continued beyond the hall. The existing roof over the inner room is at right angles, and one late 16th or early 17th-century truss survives, with mortices for threaded or butt purlins. Beyond the inner room, a small range parallel to the hall has a three-bay roof; the principal rafters have curved feet, cranked collars, butt purlins, and a diagonal ridge-piece. This range is of single-room plan and two storeys, and the floor has square-section cross-beams.

The screens passage has early 17th-century composite moulded joists, but the screen and gallery above are 20th-century. The inner room has two similarly moulded early 17th-century ceiling beams and joists with run-out stops. The rear lateral fireplace in the hall is late 19th-century moulded stone.

William White's hall behind the original hall is also open to the roof and has arch-braced trusses resting on wooden corbels, imitating the hall roof. It has a gallery on two sides, somewhat altered by Rex Gardner in the 20th century. There is a rear lateral stone fireplace and stone two-centred arch doorways on the ground floor and at gallery level.

Some early 18th-century joinery survives, including fielded panel and moulded doors into the hall, parlour, and lower rooms. There are other early 18th-century fielded three-panel doors on the first floor of the rear left and right-hand ranges, probably reused from elsewhere in the house.

The early 19th-century wing at the lower end has some early 19th-century panelled doors and a single late 19th-century staircase. This wing has been much altered in the early 20th century, but there are four fireplace surrounds with Bernard Leach tiles with flower design, and another Leach tile fireplace on the first floor of the rear right-hand wing, covered by a 20th-century radiator.

The service ranges at the back are built around a central hall open to the roof with a glazed ventilator, probably the kitchen.

Historical Note

J.A. Froude (1818-94), the historian, essayist, and novelist, was born at this house when it was his father's rectory. Like his brother R.H. Froude (1803-36), he was a participant in the Oxford Movement; Keble and Newman both stayed at the parsonage. Another brother, William Froude (1810-79), was the distinguished engineer and naval architect who is said to have tested his models on a tank in the garden.