Chilworthy House

Chilworthy House is a country house built in the late 19th century. It is constructed from random rubble local stone, with quoins and Ham stone dressings, and features slate roofs with coped verges and buff brick stacks arranged in groups of two and three, set diagonally on a base with moulded caps. The house is situated on a sloping site, with the land rising to the south, and includes a loggia and billiard room at the front. The principal roofs are on the east front, which serves as the entrance, and the north side, showcasing a Tudor manorial style.

The east front has two and a half storey gable ends flanking a two-storey centre, with a one and a half storey billiard wing that is lit from the return. The façade is arranged in a 1:1:2:1 bay pattern, featuring 3-, 4-, and 5-light stone ovolo-moulded mullion windows. The left end bay has a 4-light canted bay with a hipped stone slate roof. In the centre of the main block, there is a single-storey porch with a gabled centre and a parapet that displays an unidentified coat of arms. The porch has a cornice and a depressed Tudor arch head opening with a hoodmould, leading to a ribbed and studded door, and a 15-panel inner door. The returns are roughcast, and there are circular lights with pedimented lintels.

Inside, the entrance hall features a 16-panel moulded compartment ceiling and a chimneypiece in a late 15th-century style, supported by cup and cover capitals. The panelled stairwell is against the rear wall, and there is otherwise little notable interior decoration. The kitchen contains a chamfered beam with step and run-out stops, which is likely reused. Overall, the house is a successful pastiche of a Tudor manor house. Sir Herman Runge purchased the property around 1900, and his granddaughter, the novelist Monica Dickens, set her first two novels around the house.