Wood

Wood is a small country house now used as a farmhouse, located in Bishopsteignton. Dating from circa 1830, it was designed for the Comyns family, who owned the estate from the early 18th century until 1957. The architect is unknown. The building probably incorporates parts of an earlier house within its service block. Wood is said originally to have been one of the estates of the Bishops of Exeter. John Comyns, probably the patron of the rebuilding, was squarson from 1801 to 1836.

The house is constructed of colourwashed rendered stone with a slate roof to the main range. The roof is gabled at the ends with sprocketted eaves to the front, and the kitchen block has a two-span slate roof, half-hipped at the left end. End stacks with brick shafts rise from the main range, and a front lateral stack serves the service block. The style is Greek Revival.

The plan comprises an east-facing double-depth main range, slightly irregular at the north-west corner. The front contains two principal rooms separated by an entrance hall with the stair: a parlour to the left and a dining room to the right. An axial service passage runs to the rear of the principal rooms, linking the service block, the front rooms, and the library, which lies behind the parlour. The service block is probably a remodelling of part of the pre-1830s house and contains the kitchen, pantries, and a service stair. A lean-to scullery adjoins the kitchen block on the east front. A small pavilion block at the rear right (north-west) is now used as an outbuilding. A pre-1897 photograph shows a short crosswing formerly existed at the right end of the main range and a parapet fronted the building; both were removed and extensive repairs were carried out in 1897.

The main range rises two storeys; the service block, with a lower ground level, is two storeys and attic. The symmetrical five-bay east front features a platband and a fine stone Greek Doric portico with an entablature containing a triglyph frieze, four fluted columns to the front, and pilasters to the rear. The half-glazed front door, dating from the 19th century, has a rectangular fanlight. Windows are 12-pane timber sashes, also 19th century. The service block is set back at the left (south) end, with a lean-to projecting slightly beyond the main range's front elevation.

The rear elevation, not quite symmetrical, features a fine two-storey bow slightly left of centre, with three 12-pane bowed sashes to the ground floor and three similar sashes above, flanked by 12-pane sashes to left and right. At the right (south) end, the rear of the service block has a blind round-headed recess. At the left end, an adjoining block with a slate roof, hipped to the west, has a round-headed window with glazing bars (some slates were missing at the time of survey). The south elevation of the service block contains 12- and 8-pane timber sash windows with one 20th-century replacement; round-headed two-pane sashes light the attic storey. Tall stone rubble walling and remains of outbuildings are attached to the kitchen block at the south.

The interior contains good features of circa 1830. These include plaster cornices, mahogany panelled doors, shutters, and marble chimney-pieces. The principal stair is dog-leg in form with stick balusters alternating with lyre-shaped cast-iron panels and a wreathed handrail. The parlour has a slightly-coved plaster ceiling with decorated plasterwork to the coving. The dining room features moulded plaster panels above a dado and two tall timber Greek Doric columns at the west end, forming a four-bay colonnade. The library, to the south-west, is lit by the bow window, which descends almost to floor level. Contemporary bookcases mentioned in the old list description were sold before 1957. The house reflects some late 19th-century alterations.