Uphill, The Great Hall, And Oaknuve

Three houses, formerly a rectory, which some believe was originally the manor house. The building dates from the late medieval period and is often regarded as 14th century, although it could be later. It was restored with considerable additions at the north-west and south-east ends between 1833 and 1838 for Samuel Whiddon, curate of Lustleigh. The hall was further restored in 1888. The medieval house appears to be comprised entirely within 'Uphill' and 'The Great Hall'.

Exterior

The building has rendered walls, probably mostly of stone, although some of the early 19th-century chimneystacks are of brick. The roofs are slated; a glebe terrier of 1727 recorded that the rectory house and its outbuildings were 'covered with reed'. The hall has a cluster of three early 19th-century octagonal chimneys at the north-east end and a plain rendered chimney at the south-west end.

The plan consists of a medieval T-shaped building containing an open hall and a two-storeyed cross-wing. A double range was added on the south-east side of the cross-wing, partly overlapping it, and a single range was added on the north-west side. An entrance porch and stair hall were inserted in the south-east angle of the medieval hall and cross-wing. There are minor 20th-century additions at the north-west corner. The building is two storeys throughout, except for the open hall and single-storeyed 20th-century additions. The south-west section of the double range has three storeys because of a change in ground level.

The south-east front has a lean-to entrance porch with battlements and an angle buttress. The large glazed doorway has a pointed arch with hood-mould. The small-paned doors appear to be 20th-century replacements, but the fanlight with small-paned Gothic tracery seems to be early 19th century. In the left-hand wall is a blind doorway with a four-centred arch and hood-mould. To the left of the porch is a moulded granite doorway, probably a late 19th-century replacement, with a four-centred arch and cement hood-mould, the latter probably early 19th century. The door has patterned Gothic glazing. To the left of this door is a late 19th-century Gothic window, probably of Bath stone, with two ogee-headed lights under a straight head with hood-mould.

The double range to the right, which towers above the medieval hall, has well-preserved early 19th-century Gothic detail, including mullioned-and-transomed windows with thin, straight hood-moulds. The lights have cusped heads and patterned leaded panes.

The north-west front has four openings in the hall range. The second opening from the right is a chamfered granite doorway with a round arch, probably of 16th-century date. The door, deeply recessed, has 19th-century Gothic glazing. The right-hand opening has a 20th-century round-headed window without glazing bars. Above it is a semi-dormer containing a two-light medieval wooden window with trefoiled heads to the lights. To the left of the doorway is a late 19th-century Gothic window, probably of Bath stone. This has two mullioned-and-transomed lights under a pointed arch, with the upper parts of the lights trefoil-headed and a quatrefoil light above them in the head of the arch. At the left-hand end is a 20th-century round-arched window like that on the right. Flanking the doorway and at the right-hand end of the front are buttresses that may be early. At the extreme right-hand end is a lead rainwater head moulded with a cartouche bearing "N H S 1769" in its centre; the rainwater pipe is much later.

To the left of the hall range, the gable of the cross-wing has an early 19th-century Gothic wood window in each storey. The ground-storey window has two mullioned-and-transomed lights, the lower parts containing six-paned casements, the upper parts with glazing bars forming pointed arches. The second-storey window has a pointed head, with the lower part containing a two-light casement with leaded panes, and the upper part having glazing bars forming two pointed arches. Behind the cross-wing, the rear right-hand gable of the double range has an early 19th-century small-paned window with a pointed arch.

Interior

The interior, though remodelled in the early 19th century, contains two of the most interesting medieval roofs in Devon. These have been restored with great care in the 19th century but retain much original work. The trusses, purlins and windbraces are exposed to view from the rooms below.

The Hall Range

The hall range is basically one large room with an open gallery at each end. The south-west gallery, which has an enclosed room below it, has 19th-century Gothic wood detail, but the north-west gallery appears to be entirely 20th century. The north-east gable has a very large granite fireplace with a hollow-moulded opening and splayed sides. The jambs and lintel are each of a single piece of stone and the fireplace back is of ashlar, with worn stops, one perhaps a diagonal cut. The fireplace is probably a later insertion, since its chimney buries the feet of the cross-wing roof trusses. In the south-west gable is a curved recess, known to have formerly contained a winding staircase.

The roof is of eight bays with gable trusses, the trusses being of two alternating designs. The two south-western trusses are 19th-century replicas, one carved with the date 1888. Both types of truss are side-pegged jointed crucks, but unusual in that the principal rafter is not cut back to take the curved foot. All have very large, hollow-moulded cusped arch-braces with struts rising to the collar and principal rafter. The feet of the arch-braces rest alternately on a shaft with moulded cap and base or on a small, inverted five-sided pyramid. There are three tiers of purlins and one tier of curved windbraces, with an angled ridge piece with a triangular strengthening piece beneath it.

One type of truss reduces the width of its principal rafter just below the collar; the other does so just below the top tier of purlins. The lowest tier of purlins butts against the principal rafters and is chamfered with step-stops. The middle tier is double hollow-moulded on the underside with pyramid stops. It butts alternate trusses, but in the others is clasped to the principal rafter by one of the struts rising from the arch-brace. The third tier is chamfered with step-stops, alternately butting the trusses or clasped to the principals by curved struts rising from the collar. The windbraces are chamfered and stopped, running from the principal rafter to the middle tier of purlins, with the lowest tier of purlins being tenoned to them. Only two windbraces could be examined closely; of these, one had a diagonal-cut stop and the other a pyramid stop.

Building work in 1984 exposed a wooden lintel in the south-east wall, across the fifth and sixth bays from the north-east, supported by tenoned arch-braces which probably spring from the feet of the adjoining trusses. This may have been the original entrance.

The Cross-Wing

The cross-wing is divided between Uphill and The Great Hall, with the roof and floor timbers being exposed on both sides. The ground storey has a square-section wood post in the centre carrying a long, splayed wood bracket which is chamfered with convex stops. This in turn supports a chamfered longitudinal beam with stops that are simply vertical cuts. The bracket and beam appear to have been removed on the north-west side of the post.

The roof is of three bays with gable trusses and light intermediate trusses. The trusses (their feet concealed) have cusped hollow-moulded arch-braces rising from shafts with moulded caps. On the straight collars stand king-struts supporting triangular strengthening pieces below the angled ridge piece. Cusped braces rise from the struts to the ridge piece, as if to imitate crown posts. The intermediate trusses consist of a light collar tenoned to two common rafters and supported by cusped arch-braces. On the collars stand king-struts and cusped arch-braces matching those on the main trusses. There is a single tier of butt purlins and two tiers of cusped, hollow-moulded windbraces.

The timbers carry an unusual and varied range of 35 carpenters' marks (none have so far been discovered on the hall roof). The nearest parallel to this roof at present known is at the former rectory (now Glebe Cottage), West Camel, Somerset. It may be worth noting that in 1403 Lustleigh Manor was acquired by the Wadham family of Ilminster. 'Imitation crown posts' are also known in Devon at Old Rectory, Cheriton Bishop and Clifford Barton, Drewsteignton.

Early 19th-Century Work

Of the early 19th-century work, The Great Hall has the main staircase, a straight wooden flight with cut strings, shaped step-ends and slender shaped wood balusters, with the balustrade scrolled at the foot. The second-storey south-west room of the double range has a gable window with a four-centred arch rising from shafts with moulded caps and Gothic panelled shutters. The third-storey room above has a stone chimneypiece with five-sided columns and a frieze carved with trefoil-headed panels. The interior of Oaknuve was not inspected, but the main staircase from The Great Hall is said to continue up to its north-east wall.

Outbuildings

North-west of the house and now belonging to Uphill are the rectory barn and stable block. These are separately listed.