Mamhead Cottage

Mamhead Cottage is a garden house built in 1792 by the Reverend John Swete as part of his rebuilding of Oxton House between 1781 and 1782. Swete used the cottage as a personal retreat and displayed his watercolour paintings there. The cottage was altered and extended in the 1970s, and repair work was ongoing at the time of a 1987 survey. It is constructed of whitewashed rendered stone rubble, with outshuts reportedly of cob, and has a slate peaked roof to the main block—originally thatched.

The building’s design reflects Swete’s passion for Picturesque landscapes and buildings, documented in his “Picturesque Sketches of Devon.” The original layout remains visible, though partially obscured by 1970s additions. Originally a two-story, single-room cottage, it offers spectacular views. An external staircase on the west side, originally with a thatched pentice roof and open gallery, has been enclosed with glazing and the thatch replaced with slate. A north-side door has been converted into a window. A small, single-story wing on the south side, not depicted in the original watercolours, features a Gothick window similar to those in the main block. There are also single-story additions to the east and partially enclosing the south wing.

The two-story main block has diagonal buttresses at each corner and canted oriel windows on the north, south, and east elevations, with remnants of diamond leaded panes and ornamental glazing within the Gothick window heads. The north side has a timber arched doorway, now a window. The interior gallery on the west side features a coved plaster ceiling with plaster vaulting. The first-floor room retains an original coved plaster ceiling and a fireplace with a polished Babbacombe limestone surround, moulded with white Italian marble, and a Babbacombe limestone hearthstone. The windows contain some coloured glass, including C20 replacements, fragments of C18 or early C19 painted glass depicting naturalistic flowers and figures. An inscription above the door reads "Sibi et fuis amicis IS 1792 Hic licet incertibus horis ducere follicitae jucunda oblivia vitae," recorded in the Gentleman's Magazine. Swete illustrated the building in his “Picturesque sketches of Devon.”