Abbotsham Court, Tower House and East Wing is a Grade II listed building in the Torridge local planning authority area, England. First listed on 20 February 1958. A C16-C19 House. 2 related planning applications.
Abbotsham Court, Tower House and East Wing
- WRENN ID
- guardian-arch-hyssop
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Torridge
- Constituency
- Torridge and Tavistock MP: Sir Geoffrey Cox (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 20 February 1958
- Type
- House
- Address
- Abbotsham Court, Tower House and East Wing, EX39 5BH
- OS grid reference
- SS 414 274
- Coordinates
- 51.02478, -4.26262
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Abbotsham Court, consisting of a tower house and east wing, is a house now divided into three dwellings. The central range dates back to the late 16th century, with extensions added in the early/mid 17th century to the rear and on the right. The central range was refaced around 1720 and altered around 1870, while a wing to the left was built around 1840. The construction is of colourwashed render over coursed slatestone rubble, with gabled slate roofs and rendered stone stacks. The house is arranged in a U-plan with front wings.
The front of the central range, dating from around 1720, is a two-storey and attic structure with a five-window arrangement. It features flat rendered arches above early 19th-century sixteen-pane sashes on the first floor, and late 19th-century ground floor windows including half-glazed double doors with margin lights and plate glass sashes in square bays. Three gabled roof dormers contain late 19th-century sashes and casements. A crenellated bay to the right side has an early 19th-century sixteen-pane sash above a half-glazed late 19th-century door. The wing to the right has an irregular fenestration with mid 19th-century horned sixteen-pane sashes. A left-hand wing, built around 1840, features two late 19th-century three-light mullioned and transomed windows with margin lights, a tall tripartite sash with margin lights to the front gable, a late 19th-century half-glazed door, and similar sashes to the left side wall. Three gabled wings are found at the rear, comprising two mid 19th-century wings flanking an early/mid 17th-century wing. A mid 18th-century three-storey watch tower with a crenellated parapet is also situated at the rear.
Inside Abbotsham Court (the left wing), the interior dates to around 1840 and includes a staircase with stick balusters and a wreathed handrail, moulded cornices, decorative plasterwork, and a Doric doorcase in the front room. Tower House (the central range) has two late 16th century upper crucks, each with a ridge purlin set in a notched apex, supporting the roof of the front range. An early/mid 17th-century addition to the rear has two A-frame trusses with trenched purlins and pegged collars with notch-lapped joints. The east wing (the right wing) was not inspected but is likely to contain features of interest.
Local climate
Abbotsham Court, Tower House and East Wing sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,050 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 85% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 94% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 7 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 95% of listed buildings. Of these, 2 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- Sale history — 4 transactions since 2005
- Related listed building consents — 2 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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