Tristford House Including Detached Clock Tower To East

TRISTFORD HOUSE INCLUDING DETACHED CLOCK TOWER TO EAST

Country house, now subdivided into 3 tenements. Built in 1849 by architect George Wightwick for Mrs Wynne Pendarves of the Trist family, and enlarged around 1857 for J F Trist. Constructed in local Devon limestone ashlar with freestone dressings; the rear service wing is rendered stone rubble. Roofs are slate with stone coped gables.

The original 1849 house was organised around a small central stairwell with a south front and a rear service wing to the north. Around 1857, a cross wing was added to the west side with a new entrance, and an octagonal turret was built at the south-east corner. A conservatory, probably also of 1857, connected the detached clock tower to the house but has been demolished; the clock tower is now detached from the main building.

The exterior is 2 storeys with attic accommodation. The original 1849 centre comprises a 3-bay range with slightly advanced gables to left and right topped with stone finials. A projecting gabled oriel sits at the centre of the first storey. The ground storey features large stone mullion canted bay windows with balustrades above, and a 2-light stone mullion window at the centre beneath a hoodmould. The oriel above contains a 4-centred arch window with hoodmould. Above the bay windows are 2-light timber mullion windows with hoodmoulds and recessed panels in the gables above, one containing a wheatsheaf carving and the other a hawk.

At the right-hand corner stands a 2-storey octagonal tower with 4-centred headed stone mullion windows topped with hoodmoulds. The tower rises to a steep decoratively slated spire bearing a cross weathervane. The coved stone eaves feature a row of palettes and a frieze below with small quatrefoils.

To the left (west), the cross wing projects as a canted bay with a stone bracketed cornice and a tall shaped gable containing a moulded ogee-headed attic window. The wing displays 2 and 3-light stone mullion windows; the ground storey has 4-centred headed lights with a moulded string course above, whilst the first-floor windows bear hoodmoulds. The cross wing's side elevation features a projecting lateral stack with set-offs. A single-storey porch at the rear has a heavily moulded 4-centred arch doorway with fleurons in the moulded cornice above and a balustrade enclosing a central panel bearing a coat of arms.

The now-detached clock tower to the east is square in plan with three stages. The middle stage displays a 4-centred headed single-light window, whilst the top stage has a moulded stone bullseye flanked by 4-centred lancets above. The front and rear contain copper clock faces. The tower terminates in a stone bracketed cornice topped by a small dome, with stone finials at the corners. A low stone wall linking the tower to the house incorporates rehung former conservatory windows.

The entrance porch and vestibule feature a moulded cornice with alternating palmettes and acanthus leaves, and moulded 4-centred arch niches. The hall contains a stone chimneypiece with a Tudor arch and an overmantel with a recessed panel displaying a large carved wheatsheaf and hawk. The south-west room has a marble chimneypiece with a Tudor arch and flanking columns, together with a moulded plaster coffered ceiling and double pilasters flanking a recess in the end wall. Other rooms contain marble chimneypieces and moulded plaster cornices. Most original joinery survives intact, including moulded architraves, doors with 4-centred arch panels, panelled window shutters and dado panelling.

An open-well staircase occupies the central stairwell, featuring octagonal newels with caps and pendants, chamfered square-section balusters and a moulded rail. A 20th-century roof light has replaced a former lantern above the stairwell.

Within the rear service range stands a large early 17th-century moulded granite fireplace, said to have come from Bowden House south of Totnes. It features ogee and hollow moulding with moulded convex stops to the jambs. The ogee mouldings in the lintel rise over a shaped recess containing a shield and cornucopia.

Tristford was the seat of the Trist family from the 18th century, after they had left Bowden House in Totnes.