Great Fulford House

Great Fulford House

A manor house of the 16th century with refurbishing from the late 17th century and remodelling around 1800. The house has been the family home of the Fulford family since the reign of Richard I. The manor belonged to the Priory of Canonsleigh until the Reformation, when it was bought by Sir John Fulford, though the family is documented at the house from as early as Richard I's reign.

The building is constructed of roughcast stone rubble with some Beerstone dressings, with three axial stacks serving the hall range and further stacks behind the battlemented parapet. The roof is slate.

The house is arranged in four ranges round a central quadrangle, with an archway into the courtyard in the centre of the east range opposite the hall on the west range. A smaller, secondary courtyard to the rear of the hall is surrounded by service buildings, including the former kitchen to the west. The survival of 16th-century features in the west, east and south ranges, and a doorway to the rear courtyard, indicates that the double courtyard plan originates from the 16th century. The late 17th-century alterations were primarily refurbishing and internal rearrangement, including bolection-moulded panelled rooms, a fine staircase, and panelling in the chapel. Corridors were added to the east and south wings, in several cases cutting across existing 16th-century plaster ceilings. Around 1800, modest alterations in the Gothic style were undertaken, including three-storey projecting bays to the south and east wings with fenestration matching the existing late 16th-century windows. The battlementing of the east range and probably of the other ranges also dates from around 1800. In the late 20th century, the old kitchen block was converted to cottages.

The building is three storeys high. The principal elevation is the east range, with a symmetrical five-window front, a battlemented parapet, a string course at first floor level, and three-storey canted bays at either end. The central gateway into the courtyard features a moulded four-centred 16th-century archway with a good two-leaf plank and stud door incorporating a wicket and some later applied Gothic detail. Above the door is a square-headed hoodmould with carved label stops; the spandrels are carved with arabesques and Renaissance foliage. Above the archway are armorial bearings in a moulded frame, flanked by 17th-century figures carved in deep relief. The only ground floor windows are in the 19th-century bays: three-light mullioned windows that continue to the ground with hoodmoulds and label stops. Three first floor four-light mullioned windows in the centre have transoms, hoodmoulds and label stops; the bays have similar larger windows. Three four-light timber mullioned windows on the second floor have hoodmoulds and label stops; the bays have similar larger windows.

The south elevation is similar but features three ground floor four-light mullioned transomed windows. The west end of the south elevation has a moulded archway with a studded door leading into the rear courtyard. The north elevation is not roughcast; the fenestration is scattered and the stonework indicates considerable repair, much of it probably dating to 1910, the date of the rainwater heads. The west elevation has two tall timber arched stair windows of around 1800, a curious one-bay single storey projection on the west wall of the hall, and three second floor four-light timber mullioned windows. All fenestration facing the central courtyard consists of mullioned windows. The hall range is crowned by a clock turret of around 1800 with a tent roof and has a central Gothic flat-roofed porch with an ogee arch and flamboyant tracery in roundels in the spandrels, said to be copied from a Batty Langley design.

Interior

The two-storey hall has a late 17th-century decorated plaster ceiling, a 19th-century Gothic chimney piece with carved spandrels, and wainscot panelling of 16th and 17th-century dates with considerable Edwardian repair. Much of the panelling is likely to have originated elsewhere in the house and includes carved panels (two dated 1534), linenfold panels, and some unusually large-scale figures in deep relief. The chimney piece includes caryatids and the overmantel is a relief carving of the Fall.

The fine stair hall to the north of the hall is late 17th-century with bolection-moulded panelling and a contemporary open-well stair with an open string, barleysugar balusters and ramped handrail. A very fine inlaid two-leaf panelled door at the head of the stairs has a swan-necked overdoor. In the east wing, two large rooms have bolection-moulded panelling of the late 17th century and contemporary chimney-pieces. In the east wing, three late 16th-century decorated plaster ceilings have geometrical patterns enriched with sprays. In two of these rooms, the ceilings have been divided by later partition walls, though considerable late 17th-century joinery survives. Similar late 16th-century plaster ceilings and 17th-century joinery also survive in the south wing. Gothic plaster friezes and details embellish rooms in the west, south and east ranges; the single-storey projecting bay to the hall has a plaster Gothic vault, and the hall window reveals are decorated with Gothic motifs. The ground floor room on the south-east corner of the house is completely Gothic, with pre-archaeological stained glass and Gothic mouldings applied to the door and shutters.

The former chapel in the east wing retains its late 17th-century panelling, though the fittings have been removed—some to Dunsford Parish Church and some probably to the great hall.

Numerous small service rooms of interest survive in the west range with chamfered stopped cross beams. A narrow first floor room has a blocked squint looking down into the great hall. At the time of survey in 1985, no access to the west range roof space was available, but a medieval roof structure may exist. The south range roof trusses are late 16th-century collar rafter, mortised at the apex. The north range roof space was not thoroughly inspected but appears to be largely 20th-century replacement.

The circa 1800 alterations are unlikely to be by Sir Jeffry Wyatville, although this has been suggested. Two illustrations of the house are in the possession of the present owner: a line drawing preceding the circa 1800 alterations shows the east range with small gables to the front. A circa 1800 architectural drawing is unsigned.