Diptford Court

Details

DIPTFORD SX75NW Diptford Court 4/216 9.2.61

II

House, formerly a farmhouse. Probably C16, extended in the early to mid C17 and possibly, again in the late C17 or C18; remodelled and extended in the early C19 and extended again in the late C20. Whitewashed rendered stone rubble; the black and the rear wing have painted stone rubble walls; the C20 additions are partly slate hung at the back. Dry slate roof with gabled ends and wooden modillion eaves cornice at the front. The right hand east end of the front range and the rear wing have asbestos slate roofs. rendered stacks with recessed tops with weathering; situated at right and left gable lends of drain range, gable end of back wing and a rear lateral stack at the rear of the main range now within the C20 addition. Plan: A long main range with a wing at the rear of the left hand end. The ground is lower at the left end and rises at the rear. The main range is 2 storeys and 5 rooms long. The right hand end room is a late C20 addison. The central room (now the entrance hall) and the room to its left (now the dining room) appear to be the original extent of this range; it has 4 early or mid C17 roof trusses which may be the date of this section which is defined by full height partition walls. Behind the left hand end of this part there is a short wide wing with a gable end stack which judging by the one surviving late C16 or early C17 roof truss, must have been built before the front range when the latter was re-roofed in the C17. The rear wings full-height south gable end wall at the junction of the 2 ranges supports the hypothesis that the rear wing is the earlier part. In the inner angle of the 2 ranges there is a turret with a probably C17 winder stair. But above that stair and also in the angle a smaller newel stairs rises from the first floor of the rear wing and winds back into the roof of the wing. Therefore it appears that the wing was originally taller. The room to the right of centre (drawing room) was probably added later in the C17 or C18; it has a rear lateral stack and is contemporary with an earlier than a further stair tower which is at the back of the entrance hall; this stair tower contains an early C19 staircase and is integral with the small closet that overlaps the back of the right hand room (drawing room). At the lower left hand end there is a small service room with access from the rear wing and was probably added in the early C19 when the whole house was re- modelled and the eaves of the front range raised to form a fashionable new front. The early C19 room plan was probably as it is now that is:- a central entrance hall with the main stair in a tower at the back, a drawing room to the right and a dining room to the left, the left end room was probably the pantry; the wing behind the pantry and dining room was the kitchen with the back stairs in the old stair turret in the angle. Probably in the C18 or early C19 an outbuilding was added behind the kitchen wing which was further extended in the C19 and converted into a separate cottage in the late C20. Also in the late C20 a 2-storey addition was added behind the right hand end and a 2-storey 1-room plan extension at the right hand end. Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical south front. Long range of widely spaced windows. The 6 first floor windows not aligned over the 4 ground floor windows. First floor 3 square 12-pane sashes to left and tripartite sash to right of centre (4:46:4) and a larger tripartite sash to right. Ground floor has 16-pane sash to left and tripartite (8:12:8) sash to left and right of doorway. The doorway which is off centre to the left has early C19 flush panel double doors, the top panel glazed and shallow early C19 porch with a slender wooden columns supporting a canopy with a panelled soffit. All the windows at the front are early, C19 sashes complete with glazing bars except for the ground floor left which is a C20 replacement and the ground and first floor right hand windows which are in the late C20 addition, the ground floor right hand is a French door. The rear wing has a C19 3-light casement with glazing bars on the first floor is carried down over the projecting stair turret which has been partly engulfed in the later stair tower which is stepped back to the left and has a C19 fixed-light 9-pane window. To the left at the back the rear lateral stack projects above the flat roof of the C20 2 storey addition which is slate hung on the first floor. The outer side of the rear wing has C19 casements land a C20 glazed door. The converted outbuilding at the end of the rear wing has external stone stairs up to the blocked left doorway; and late C20 glazed door land casements. 2 lead fire insurance plaques, one on the east gable end, the other over the front doorway. Interior: Ground Floor: room to left of entrance hall has glazed china cupboard set into the front wall, moulded and panelled doors and panelled window shutters. The room to right of the entrance has moulded and panelled door, similarly panelled window shutters and rococo marble chimney piece from another house. The right hand end room is in the C20 addition but has reused Adam style white marble chimney piece with bands of yellow marble and was in the frieze. The entrance half has a slate floor with diamond-shape Devon marble insets and a stairwell at the back with an early C19 framed closed-string staircase with stick balusters moulded handrail and square newels. The hall doors are also moulded and panelled. The kitchen has chamfered cross-beams the ends in the buried or unstrapped. On the first floor of the rear wing a stone newel stair with wooden treads rising from the first floor, the doorway at the bottom has a wooden frame with true mitres and chamfered on the inside, the worn. Several early C19 panelled doors on the first floor. Roof: Over the rear wing one early truss, the principals have straight feet, morticed apex, mortices for threaded purlins, and the morticed collar is missing. The other trusses over the wing have been replaced in C18 or C19. The main range roof: 4 trusses between 2 full-height walls, the straight principals have 2 tiers of mortices for threaded purlins and crashed collars with notched lap joints, the apexes are and have trenching for a diagonal ridgepiece. The ridgepiece, moat of the purlin and all the rafters are missing. The roof over the west end of the main range has one truss lapped and pegged at the apex. The roof over the east end of the main range has nailed or bolted soft-wood principals. Diptford Court is said to have been the court-house (W.G. Hoskins, Devon)

Listing NGR: SX7303257139

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

101131

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Hoskins, W G, A New Survey of England in Devon, (1954)
Hoskins, W G, A New Survey of England in Devon, (1972)

End of official list entry

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