Caseley Court

Caseley Court is a house of late 16th or early 17th-century date with later additions. The lower left-hand end may be the remnant of an earlier house. It is constructed of stone rubble covered with roughcast, with a thatched roof, half-hipped to the left. Two granite ashlar chimneystacks with tapered tops stand on the ridge; the left-hand stack is crenellated. A 19th or 20th-century rendered stack rises on the right wing.

The building follows a 3-room and through-passage plan, with the parlour end developed into a cross-wing with a front projection. The original 2-storey entrance porch has lean-to additions at either side. The plan is unusual for Devon in that there is a double stack at the upper end, heating both hall and parlour, and at the lower end a stack of at least 17th-century date backing on to the through-passage. A stair-turret with canted sides is positioned at the rear of the hall and parlour stack. The building rises to 2 storeys.

The north-east facing entrance front has few windows. At its centre stands the gabled entrance-porch, the front of which appears to have been partly remodelled. The upper storey has close-studding (exposed internally) in the left wall, supported by a double-ovolo moulded beam carried by two similarly moulded posts set in from the ends of the beam, as if the porch had originally been jettied at each side. Sawn-off joist-ends visible on top of the beam confirm there was almost certainly a front jetty. To the left of the porch no windows are visible, though a blocked opening can just be discerned. To the right, concealed by a 20th-century lean-to, each storey has a 2-light ovolo-moulded mullioned window; the upper window has a diagonally-set bar in the centre of each light. The cross-wing at the right-hand end, which has been cut back slightly, has a 20th-century lean-to ground storey and a 2-light wood casement window with 3 panes per light in the second storey.

The rear wall has no projections apart from the original stair turret and a shallow 18th or 19th-century stair projection at the lower end. It contains wood casement windows with small panes either leaded or in wooden glazing bars. Flanking the back door of the through-passage are two wooden columns, probably of 17th-century date, with moulded caps and bases; they may have belonged to a former porch.

Interior features are substantial. The former hall has a double-ovolo moulded upper-floor beam with bar-stops and a similar half-beam against the chimney stack. Scratch-moulded joists run both sides. At the lower end, against the through-passage, is a plank and muntin screen carved with a large fish within which are the date 1771 and the initials SN, believed to be for Samuel Nosworthy. The door-head in the screen has been cut off, but a plank door on strap-hinges survives. A wooden door-frame to the stair turret has a cranked head. The doorway to the former parlour has a square-headed wooden frame with scroll-stops and a plank door.

A large fireplace in the hall has jambs made of large pieces of granite and a double-ovolo moulded wood lintel with run-out stops. A large oven with a stone-framed opening having a curved head stands nearby, with a shallow granite shelf in front. The interior of the oven has a brick dome but the sides are of large pieces of granite.

The former parlour, now subdivided, has a chamfered beam with run-out stops. A staircase with stone rubble steps and a small slit window provides access. The through-passage has plain joists above it. On the lower side is a dado of 18th-century raised-and-fielded ovolo-moulded panelling. This backs on to the rear of the lower-room stack, which, to judge from a small exposed piece carved with the initials TW, is probably of granite ashlar, and has a large hollow-moulded cornice at the top.

An 18th-century panelled door leads into the lower room, which has an 18th-century moulded plaster cornice running around the edge of the ceiling. In the corner next to the fireplace is an early 18th-century cupboard with shaped shelves; it has upper and lower doors with ovolo-moulded raised-and-fielded panels, the panel of the lower door ogee-headed. The fireplace is 17th century or earlier, with splayed granite jambs and a wooden lintel that is chamfered with straight-cut stops.

In the second storey, the room over the hall has a fireplace with splayed granite jambs and granite hearth, with an ovolo-moulded wood lintel having raised run-out stops. At either side of the stack are doorways with chamfered, square-headed wood frames having rounded step-stops; a matching doorway leads from the staircase to the room over the parlour. The room over the lower end is furnished with a fireplace having a bolection-moulded wood architrave and moulded cornice of circa 1700. The same room contains an early 18th-century wall-cupboard with a panelled door.

Roof timbers are exposed in all the upstairs rooms; none appear to be earlier than the late 16th century, although smoke-blackened thatch was recorded before restoration circa 1970. The roof over the lower end has no trusses, with purlins spanning from gable wall to stack. Over the hall is a truss with plain feet, the collar halved and with shaped ends. It is not clear whether the truss has through or threaded purlins or whether it has a ridge.

The stable, which makes a good group with the house, is separately listed. The house is reported to have old deeds going back to the purchase of the freehold by John Carnsley in 1378. Principal families owning it subsequently were the Nosworthys and the Wills. A share in Lustleigh Manor and grazing rights go with the property.