Hanningfields, Little Warborough And South Warborough House

This is a villa, dating to around 1850, originally constructed for George Pycroft, a general practitioner and the first surgeon to the Devon Volunteers. It has been divided into three separate houses. The building is stuccoed with a slate roof; the main block has a hipped roof, the west wing a gabled roof, and the two rear service wings are also gabled. Rendered stacks remain, some retaining moulded cornices.

The original plan consisted of a south-facing double-depth main block (Hanningfields), with the main entrance on the east side leading into a passage and a stair hall to the rear right. There are two principal rooms facing south, with smaller rooms to the rear. A slightly set-back west wing (Little Warborough) is located at the left end. Two parallel rear service wings (South Warborough House) were originally separated by a narrow service yard.

The south front is asymmetrical, presenting a 2:2 bay facade. The main block, located to the right, is symmetrical and features a verandah supported by posts; the verandah roof is partly lead and partly glazed. The main block’s upper floor has two 19th-century tripartite sash windows with cornices on moulded brackets. Below the sills are brackets. The windows have 8-pane sashes in the centre and 4-pane sashes in the outer lights. The ground floor also has two tall 19th-century tripartite sashes; some glazing bars are missing. The wing to the left has a lower roofline with 4-pane 19th or 20th-century sash windows, each with a moulded architrave. The east return of the main block features a pedimented porch (from which the stucco has been removed), with clasping buttresses rising above the porch roofline. A 19th-century two-leaf panelled front door is accessed via a semi-circular fanlight; a stack projects through the eaves to the left of the porch. The upper floor has two 19th-century 16-pane sashes with cornices on moulded brackets. The ground floor has one 12-pane sash. The parallel service wings to the north have 19th-century timber sashes with glazing bars. The east service wing and the west wing abut the main block rather awkwardly, suggesting different construction phases.

The interior of the main range (Hanningfields) retains unusually elaborate plaster cornices in the principal rooms, along with two 19th-century marble chimney-pieces (one on the first floor), 19th-century joinery, and a staircase with an open string, turned balusters, and a ramped, wreathed handrail. The porch roof has an unusual design, featuring an inner ceiling of tiles. It is a handsome villa.