Clovelly Court

Clevelly Court is a large detached country house dating from the 1740s, originally built for Zachary Hamlyn and altered in 1795 by Sir James Hamlyn. The interior suffered severe damage in a fire around 1950. The house is constructed primarily of rubble stone, with one wing rendered smooth, and has slate roofs. It features a classical design with simple detail, incorporating later Gothic elements.

The house comprises a long, three-storey plus attic hipped block that returns to a broader three-storey unit. Octagonal stair turrets project from the two outer corners of this unit. These are linked by a gatehouse or entrance tower, also with half-octagonal stair turrets. An entrance door is situated at the base of the gatehouse, sheltered by a lean-to roof over a cambered opening. Above the door is a plaque reading: ‘Antiqua Domus Conflagrata AD 1789 Aedem Hanc Anno Sequente Susceptam Extruit JACOBUS HAMLYN Baronettus’. The left turret has two lancet windows, and the right has two lancets and a two-light casement.

The main block, rendered smooth, has a symmetrical front with a two-bay-plus-two-window facade. It features twelve-pane sash windows on the ground and first floors, and small-pane Yorkshire sliding sashes to the second floor. The right-hand turret has three small lights, and both turrets have hipped slated cappings. A connecting section to the entrance tower has three windows with twelve-pane and fifteen-pane sashes. The long front, facing the walled garden, has one bay rendered with a twelve-pane sash, continuing to an unrendered section with three windows, 12-pane sashes on the ground floor, two two-light casements, and a small sash at the eaves, concluding with an added block under a swept-down roof. A plain gable end faces the church.

The return front on the entrance side has scattered fenestration, mainly consisting of two-light small-pane casements, but also incorporating one larger window, one twelve-pane sash, and a large twenty-four-pane sash. A plank door is situated towards the right. Straight joints in the masonry at the midpoint correspond with a ridge stack; a second ridge stack and one at the right hipped end are constructed of brick. A high-set hipped dormer includes a sash window. At the left end is a projecting section of wall featuring a swept-down roof. There is a flight of five very shallow steps leading to a quadrant and rubble wall that contains a stone terrace.

The interior has not been inspected but is understood to have been significantly modified as a result of the 20th-century fire damage.