Blackpool House

Blackpool House is a house with adjoining cottage, now forming the rear wing, situated high on a hillside overlooking Blackpool Sands and the bay. The main house dates from circa 1830-39, with the former cottage added in the later 19th century and the two buildings joined in the early 20th century. Late 20th-century additions have also been made.

The original house is constructed of stuccoed stone rubble with a hipped slate roof fitted with black glazed ridge tiles and deep eaves with moulded cast-iron gutters. Rendered chimneys are positioned on the sides. The rear wing has stone rubble walls faced in vertically applied water reeds fixed by horizontal buttons, with a thatched roof featuring gabled ends and three gables at the front.

The plan shows the original house contained two principal rooms in the front range with a stairhall at the centre and a one-room wing probably containing the kitchen behind the left-hand room, with a verandah across the front. A detached cottage of probably two rooms was built behind the rear wing in the later 19th century. In the early 20th century these buildings were linked by infilling the space between them. Late 20th-century work includes a two-storey single-room extension at the right-hand end and a single-storey extension at the left-hand end. The original front verandah was rebuilt and glazed in the 20th century.

The building is two storeys with a not quite symmetrical three-window south front, the centre and right-hand windows closer spaced. The first floor has three early 19th-century 16-pane sashes with blind boxes, the centre window slightly smaller. The ground floor has two early 19th-century tripartite sashes (4:8:4 panes) and a central doorway with a probably 19th-century panelled and glazed door. The glazed verandah with slate roof that replaced the open original is 20th century, though the fenestration behind appears intact. To the right, the 20th-century two-storey extension is slightly recessed with large 20th-century casements and flat roof. The left side has a 19th-century canted bay window with sashes retaining glazing bars, a 19th-century 12-pane sash above, and an early 20th-century two-bay extension with garden linking to the former cottage. The cottage front is nearly symmetrical with tall late 19th or early 20th-century two-light casements and doorways to left and right. A small dovecote faced in water-reed is attached to the front slightly left of centre. A 20th-century extension adjoins the left end of the former cottage.

The building is said to have been built as the summer residence of a Dartmouth gentleman. White's Directory of 1878 lists Thomas H. Newman Esq, J.P., at Blackpool Cottage, also with residences at Coryton, Tavistock and 9 Great Cumberland Place, Regent Street, London. The property has been occupied by the Newmans since the 19th century.