Brickhouse

Details

KENTON SX 98 SW

5/196 Brickhouse (formerly listed as Breckhouse 11.11.52 Farmhouse)

GV II*

House. Probably late C17, described as an incomplete 'shell'in 1796. Mr Long Esq., for whom it was built, died before it was finished (Swete). Derelict in the 1960s and renovated since. English bond brick on a stone plinth ; red pantile roof, gabled at ends ; massive brick projecting end stacks with set-offs. Later C19 brick addition with tiled roof. Artisan mannerist style, extremely unusual for Devon and an unusually early use of brick in the county. Plan: Swete's watercolours of 1796 show that there were originally 2 blocks, only one of which survives. The surviving block was originally 3 storeys, 2 rooms wide, built into the slope of the land with the principal rooms on the first floor and a first floor entrance : service rooms on the ground floor. Judging from the roof structure the house was reduced to 2 storeys in the early C19 and is known to have served as 2 cottages in the C20. The principal stair no longer exists and the newel stair which gave access from the ground floor services to the piano nobile has been replaced. The house has been turned round and the original porch to the first floor rooms has been blocked. Exterior: Remarkable for its robust decorative brick detail. 2 storeys. Symmetrical 5-bay front (now the rear) with a gabled porch at first floor level with brick pilasters and a moulded brick cornice above a round-headed doorway with a key block doorway now blocked and converted to a window. To the left and right are blind windows, 2 to each side, with projecting brick architraves and moulded brick cornices. 5-bay front elevation with a C20 verandah on posts with a tiled roof, screened-in in the centre to form a porch. Ground floor windows with segmental brick arches and C20 3-light timber casements with glazing bars. First floor windows with projecting round-headed brick arches with keyblocks and blind panels above the C20 2- light timber transomed casements. The centre window, lighting the stair, is set below the others and smaller, although of the same design and is linked to a window above set in a projecting square brick frame. A brick platband below the eaves (but originally at second floor level) is linked to the keyblocks of the first floor window. Single-storey later brick addition at the right end, slightly set back, with casement windows. The massive stacks retain the remains of a projecting brick string course. Interior: Largely modernized. It is not clear whether the piano nobile rooms were ever completed and fitted up : the ground floor rooms each have a massive chamfered crossbeam, the left-hand room beam with surviving scroll stops. Roof: Conventional early C19 king post and strut trusses. Swete, who illustrated the house with 4 watercolours, refers to the owner, Mr Long Esq., "who being dissatisfied with his ancient manor at Mowlish and having yielded up his other seat at Newhouse to Mr Oxenham who had married his daughter ...... began this edifice for himself, but died ere he saw its completion". Swete does not give a date for the building but David Long Esq. was sherriff of Devon 1704-1705.

Swete, J, 'Picturesque Sketches of Devon', vol. 11 (1796) pp. 52 and 53. Ms held in DRO.

Listing NGR: SX9440780950

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

85866

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Swete, J, Swetes Picturesque Sketches of Devon, (1792-1801), 52 53

End of official list entry

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