Ward House (Chelfham Senior School)

Ward House is a small country house, now used as a school, dating to approximately the second quarter of the 18th century. It has been altered in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The exterior features rendered walls beneath a hipped asbestos slate roof with a gable over the front pediment. Two symmetrical central axial rendered brick stacks rise through the structure. The building is two storeys with an attic and basement, arranged on a piano-nobile plan with principal rooms positioned over service rooms in the basement. The plan has double depth with a central entrance hall leading to a stairhall at the rear, flanked by two rooms either side. Originally, the left-hand front room was divided from the hall by an open screen, now replaced by a solid partition.

The symmetrical three-window front has a central door approached by steps from either side with original decorative iron balustrades. A modillion cornice below the eaves extends into the central pediment. The first-floor central window is an early 19th-century 12-pane hornless sash. The outer two windows are tall 20th-century two-light casements with glazing bars set behind a low iron railing. Bay windows with 20th-century replacement sashes were added to the principal floor left and right in the mid-19th century. The left and right-hand returns each have two similar bay windows on the principal floor; that on the right-hand side retains mid-19th-century 12-pane sashes. The original doorcase at centre has fluted pilasters with an entablature featuring triglyphs in the frieze and medallions to the pediment, panelled reveals, and possibly an original part-glazed door panelled at the bottom. A 20th-century extension extends to the rear.

The interior of the principal rooms retains many original features. The entrance hall is finished with a modillion cornice and six panelled doors in architraves with projecting cornices. The left-hand partition of the entrance hall is an insertion below the cornice, re-using two doors. The left-hand front room has two Doric columns adjoining this partition, which originally formed an open screen retained at either end by a fluted pilaster.

The original chimneypiece in this room has a shouldered architrave and ornate moulded cornice with an overmantle featuring a rectangular panel with shouldered corners and a scrolled pediment above. Each bay window is flanked by fluted pilasters with a Tudor arch above and 19th-century panelled shutters.

The right-hand front room was probably the principal room. It features fielded panelling and an elaborate chimneypiece with an ornate shouldered architrave. The frieze is in high relief with a running vine pattern and a central basket of flowers. A moulded projecting cornice sits above. The ornamental overmantle has a square panel flanked by pilasters with applied trailing flowers, with an elaborate frieze of alternate triglyphs and flowers and a modillion cornice above.

The rear left-hand room has a simpler chimneypiece with a shouldered architrave and fielded panel shutters, probably original.

A contemporary open-well staircase features a cut string and curtail step, with column newels alternating between fluted columns and vases, and barley-twist balusters, a few of which have been replaced.

Despite alterations, the house exhibits high-quality internal features and the plan of the principal rooms remains relatively unaltered.