Whiddonpark House

Whiddonpark House is a partly surviving country mansion dating from the late 16th to early 17th century, possibly as late as 1649 based on a dateplaque. The service block was extended in the 19th century and the whole building was modernised around 1980. It is constructed predominantly of granite stone rubble, with the main front faced in coursed blocks of massive granite ashlar. The chimneys are granite, with the oldest featuring granite ashlar shafts. The roof is slate.

The building is L-shaped in plan, with a principal 2-room block facing south-east containing the main living spaces. These rooms are served by both rear lateral and end stacks. At the rear of the left (south-western) end is the main entrance lobby with a projecting stair turret. The kitchen projects at right angles from the rear of the right end. The original end stack is now positioned axially following a 19th-century extension that added another room to the rear; this extension has a projecting lateral stack on its inner side. It appears that Whiddonpark House is only part of the original late 16th to early 17th-century mansion, with the main block likely continuing further to the south-west.

The building is 3 storeys throughout. The exterior presents an almost symmetrical 2-window front of original granite-mullioned windows. All windows feature hollow-chamfered mullions, broad bead-moulded reveals, and hoodmoulds with plain square labels. The ground floor left window is 3 lights; the remaining windows are 4 lights with central king mullions. Only the second floor windows retain their original rectangular panes of leaded glass. The roof is hipped to the right and gable-ended to the left.

The left end, including the side of the stair turret, is largely blank except for a small loft window to the right of the projecting ashlar stack. This side includes some irregular blockings or patchings whose original purpose is unclear. The main doorway is positioned slightly left of the stack. Its ashlar-fronted porch is gabled and contains a round-headed outer arch with a broad bead-moulded surround and hoodmould. The doorway itself is a smaller version of the outer arch and contains a 19th-century panelled and part-glazed door. Above the door, a plaque bearing the date 1649 in a simple geometric pattern is fixed to the wall.

The stair turret end contains two 19th-century 4-pane sash windows, the upper one enlarging an original window opening. The right end of the main block is also blank. The rear block has an irregular 4-window front of various casements. The oldest are oak-framed containing rectangular panes of leaded glass, some possibly dating to the 18th century. Others are 19th-century with glazing bars, and some are 20th-century casements without glazing bars. Most have exposed oak lintels. A 19th-century part-glazed panelled door stands near the front block, blocking an earlier and larger doorway. Another 19th-century door is the only feature of the rear gable end. The other side of the rear block has similar irregular fenestration except for one light of a partly blocked original granite-mullioned window on the third floor.

The interior has been extensively refurbished in the 19th and 20th centuries, but much early fabric and decorative detail survives, much of it uncovered since around 1980. From the entrance hall, a granite low segmental arch with hollow-chamfered surround leads to a spacious newel stair with steps made from solid oak baulks. The left front room, nearest the entrance, was a fine parlour. Its fireplace is the most impressive in the house, constructed in granite with a Tudor arched lintel and moulded surround. Most of the walls here retain their original 17th-century small field oak panelling.

By contrast, the right room has a plain granite fireplace with a soffit-chamfered oak lintel and a soffit-chamfered crossbeam. The rear kitchen contains a massive granite fireplace with a soffit-chamfered oak lintel. It has been reduced in size, with a large brick-lined bread oven built into the blocking. A 18th-century doorway connects to the front block; the original, blocked opening is of granite with a segmental head and broad hollow-chamfered surround. The ceiling, like those in the upper rooms, is flat with exposed joists of large scantling.

The fireplaces in the upper rooms are of granite ashlar with chamfered surrounds, the larger ones featuring pyramid stops. The fireplace in the first floor right room has an overmantel of 17th-century ornamental plasterwork. A heraldic achievement is flanked by W initials with floral sprays beyond, and the name Upcott appears above. Most joinery detail is 19th-century, though a number of early 18th-century 2-fielded panel doors survive. The roof structure is entirely early 20th-century.

Whiddonpark House is probably only part of a larger mansion, likely the most important in the area. It was the seat of the Whiddon family from the mid-16th century until 1761. Writing in 1797, Polwhele recorded that it was then ruinous. Reverend John Swete, in his account of 1781, described it as "an old edifice blocked up towards the part which had the wildest, most romantic appearance." The estate was subsequently purchased by the Drewe family, who built Castle Drogo on the ridge opposite.