Dawlish College (Mamhead House)

This country house, now used as a special school, was originally the seat of the Newman family. Built between 1827 and 1833, it was designed by Anthony Salvin for Sir R.W. Newman, Baronet, working from a ground plan by Charles Fowler. The building is constructed of fine ashlar Bathstone with gabled slate roofs and chimney stacks featuring a lavish variety of ornamental, grouped Tudor-style chimney shafts. The house is stylistically remarkable, orchestrating Gothic, Tudor and Renaissance influences in a highly original way.

Planning History and Layout

In 1822, Fowler provided Newman with several designs for remodelling the old Mamhead in the Italian palazzo style with a symmetrical plan and a grand staircase on the central axis rising from a lateral corridor behind the suite of reception rooms in the east front. The plan thus forms an E shape, with the open side at the back closed by a low range of offices extended at both ends as wings. Salvin's plan is essentially the same but is given an asymmetrical appearance through three devices: firstly by choosing a new irregular site which means the actual symmetry of the plan is rarely revealed; secondly by the foil of the castellated stable block (separately listed), set at an oblique angle to the house and high above it; and thirdly by a south-west conservatory extension and pavilion.

The main E-shaped plan faces east and is entered at the north end into an entrance hall with a billiard room to the east. The principal rooms face east off a vaulted corridor: dining room, drawing room, and library, with a south-facing breakfast room at the end of the corridor. The main stair rises in a west projection off the corridor, opposite a vestibule between the dining and drawing rooms which gives access to the terrace. The corridor was conceived as a statue gallery for heroic figures of English Royalty and Worthies and returns at either end, linking up with the service corridor in the service wing to the north, so that corridors ring the central courtyard.

Exterior

The exterior is very complete down to the extremely ornate downpipes and rainwater heads. The house has two storeys and an attic behind a parapet, embattled to the main range with tall pinnacles, a deep plinth, and moulded string courses below the parapet and to the first floor of the main range. Windows are stone-mullioned with hoodmoulds, transomed to the main range.

The entrance (north) front is symmetrical with five bays and a two-storey porch in the centre with a steep gable, moulded Tudor-arched doorframe with carved spandrels, and an embattled oriel window with the Newman motto carved below the lights. The north end of the service wing projects to the front at the right (the kitchen) with a spectacular stack with set-offs and corbels and five chimney shafts.

The east elevation, with views down to the sea, has nine bays arranged symmetrically, with steep gables to left, right and centre, the latter projecting. Embattled two-storey canted bays stand to left and right, whilst the central projecting bay has doorways to each return and extravagant polygonal buttresses which rise as massive pinnacles with crocketed finials. The bay is corbelled above the ground floor window and features a first floor lobed battlemented oriel window.

The south elevation is symmetrical with five bays, two gables to the front, and an embattled first floor oriel in the centre. The south-west end of the service wing returns at the left end but is continued as a splendid single-storey four-bay conservatory with moulded Tudor-arched doorways with glazed doors with iron tracery, the verticals cast to resemble slender buttresses with set-offs. Exquisite naturalistic flower carving appears in the spandrels, whilst the parapet is carved with a quotation from Chaucer's Roman de la Rose in Gothic script. The conservatory terminates in a two-tier pavilion with iron-traceried doors on the south and east sides.

The rear elevation is single-storey in the centre of the service wing with two-storey embattled polygonal towers to left and right. A Tudor-arched doorway leads into the servant's hall with a rabbit and goose carved in the spandrels. The stair projection of the main range has a massive mullioned stair window with three transoms.

Interior

The interior is remarkably complete with the exception of the statues by Charles R. Smith which were sold in the 1980s. The quality of craftsmanship is of the first rank and Salvin's attention to detail, including door knobs and hinges, is meticulous. The survival of original paint and graining, some light fittings, built-in furniture designed by Salvin, and stained glass by Thomas Willement (some temporarily removed for safety) is notable. Willement was also responsible for the plumbing.

The entrance hall is a single space with the billiard room, featuring a panelled dado and a decorated ribbed plaster ceiling with fleur de lis, Tudor roses and armorial bearings. Windows are glazed with ornamental leading with white glass. A timber Gothic screen divides the hall from the billiard room which has a splendid Gothic chimneypiece, minutely carved, with painted armorial bearings in relief.

The spine corridor has a coved and vaulted plaster ceiling with traceried panels and bosses, the details picked out in gold, original oil lamps with ornamental iron brackets, and stained glass by Willement. Tudor arches with panelled soffits lead into the vestibule (to the east) and the stair (to the west). The stair hall has a presumably plaster, fan-vaulted, partly painted ceiling and a 24-light stair window with stained glass. The splendid stair has one flight dividing into two at the landing with a traceried balustrade, said to be cast iron, retaining original paint. The newels at the bottom are crowned with original oil lamps decorated with brass angels and foliage. On the stair side, the arch into the corridor has carved spandrels and a carved Gothic text punning on the name Newman. A four-bay arcade stands at the top of the stairs leading into the upper corridor. Two statues, presumably part of the sequence by Smith, stand at the bottom of the stair. The vestibule also has a vaulted ceiling and stained glass window.

The dining room has a panelled dado and decorated plaster ceiling with wood-grained ribs, fleur de lis and Tudor rose decorations. Its fine Gothic chimneypiece features statue niches, original (and very early) brightly coloured encaustic tiles, a Gothic grate and fender, and original paint including the spandrels which are carved with fruit. At the north end, a free Jacobean-style table is built into a panelled recess, the recess flanked by swags of flowers and grain carved in a late 17th-century manner. Exquisite stained glass with naturalistic painting of fruit appears in the top lights.

The drawing room has a decorated plaster ceiling in an original pattern, loosely based on Jacobean strapwork but enriched with medallions of painted flowers, panelled walls, elaborate overdoors, and a fine Gothic chimneypiece with a mirror overmantel, plus stained glass.

The library has a decorated plaster ceiling, entirely wood-grained, the ribs enriched with sprays of plaster flowers and leaves. The original fitted bookcases survive with coving and a cornice carved with animal masks. Its Gothic chimneypiece features carved demi-angels (the heads broken off but in safe-keeping) with a mirror overmantel crowned with strapwork. It has panelled walls and stained glass.

The morning room has a similar ceiling, carved shelves and a Gothic chimneypiece with delicately carved figures.

The first floor corridor is top-lit with a flat ceiling with panels formed by moulded ribs with lively carved bosses at the intersections. Gothic chimneypieces survive in the principal bedrooms.

The service rooms also retain their original Tudor-style chimneypieces, cornices and original joinery including bookshelves in the servant's hall with the text: "The books inscribed with the initials MJN were selected by Mary Jane Newman during the last days of her life and directed by her to be placed in this Hall for the perusal and edification of the faithful servants".

The conservatory has a partly glazed roof carried on moulded tie-beam trusses (possibly cast iron) with pierced trefoils in the spandrels. The pavilion has a vaulted plaster ceiling with naturalistically carved flower bosses.

Significance

Mamhead House was one of Salvin's first major buildings. It is an outstanding country house, highly original stylistically with craftsmanship of the first order. The survival of vulnerable original colour in the interior is remarkable. Salvin's original drawings survive in the Royal Institute of British Architects Drawings Collection.