Portledge Hotel

Details

ALWINGTON SS32SE 5/42 Portledge Hotel 22.1.52 (formerly listed as Portledge) GV. II * ` Country house, now hotel. Medieval; C16 and C17 extensions and alterations; front range remodelled and extended c. 1830. Ashlar slatestone to front; gabled slate roofs with mid C19 bell cupola to rear; stone lateral and internal stacks. Plan form and development: medieval great hall, screens passage and service end, encased by thick walls, lies to right side of rear; by early C17 house had enclosed central courtyard with the hall standing on its right side; in about 1830 this courtyard was turned into an octagonal inner hall, the house refronted in Domestic Tudor and Gothick-style, and the projecting right-hand front wing built; there is a small enclosed yard to the rear of the house. Front of c. 1830 is of 2 storeys and of L-plan with projecting right wing: triple-gabled 3-window range to left has tympanum arches above label moulds over 4-light stone-mullioned windows with glazing bars to casements; reset mid C16 four-light stone mullioned and round-arched window to right; front right wing has side walls each of 2-window range and similar windows; right side wall of the front range has 2-light Gothick-style windows. Triple-gabled left side wall, of c. 1830, has hollow-chamfered round-arched windows; porch has a pointed-arched entry with rusticated arch and Tuscan pilasters to inner porch, which has C17 studded and decoratively-carved door set in a moulded wood architrave and a C17 studded door with fielded panels to right. Older work lies to the rear of the house, principally to the rear of the right side wall; a C17 two-storey crenellated porch, with a hood mould over an early C17 moulded round-arched doorway, adjoins a late C17 two-storey gable end to rear, with two late C17 wood-mullioned and transomed cross windows with leaded-lights. To rear of the house is an early C17 range, remodelled in the early C19, and another parallel range of C17 origins to right: these two ranges are separated by a walled yard, which has part of a C12 chamfered round arch to a rear doorway and a gallery of late C16 Mannerist-style carved posts supporting scroll-bracketed wall plate with carved pendentives. Interior: C12 hall, to rear right, is encircled by massively thick walls and has a screens passage to rear with a C15 chamfered and round-arched service doorway; the hall was gutted by fire in about 1890. Yard to rear is flanked by range to left which has moulded wood architraves with urn stops, one with plank and studded door; ground-floor room to rear (former kitchen) has mid C18 panelled doors and bolection-moulded architrave to fireplace, large bread oven and 2 heavy beams; block to rear right has early C17 stop-chamfered beams and bases of A-frame trusses. First-floor room to rear of medieval hall has mid C18 panelling with bolection-moulded overmantle. In the early C19 the central courtyard was infilled by an octagonally-shaped hall with imitation ashlar stucco walls and lit by a large glazed lantern; panelled doors, with Gothick architraves to first floor and Gothick balustrade to gallery; beamed ceiling is supported by brattished corbels. Rest of description details front range: early C19 plasterwork to ground-floor dining room on right; oval medallions are C20; early C19 Gothick colonettes with foliate capitals to windows on right. Very find early C17 dog-leg staircase with landing: turned balusters set on closed string; carved foliate decoration to turned newels; turned and carved pendentives; moulded banisters. Landing above staircase has early C17 moulded wood architraves with urn stops, C17 studded door, and fine ribbed plasterwork ceiling with large central pendentive, thistles of James I and heraldic eschutcheon. First-floor room to right has fine early C17 overmantle with arcaded and trabeated Doric friezes; early C17 panelling, each panel having a pedimented aedicule surmounted by urns and flanked by scrolls. Gallery to left of stairs has very fine barrel-vaulted plaster ceiling of c. 1700; cherubs in tympanae at each end hold vases of flowers and swags; two fine ovals to ceiling, which are comprised of fruit and vegetables to left, and flowers with masks of Green Men to right; early C17 fireplace with heraldic cartouche to overmantle. Room to left has another very fine early C17 overmantle with helmed coat of arms flanked by birds holding trails of flowers and female figures, probably Ceres. History: the Pine-Coffin family have lived at Portledge since the C12. There are similarities between the plasterwork here and the very fine plasterwork ceiling of c. 1684 at the Royal Hotel, Bideford.

Listing NGR: SS3942224720

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

91359

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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