Hydro-electric Engine House at Castle Drogo
HYDRO-ELECTRIC ENGINE HOUSE AT CASTLE DROGO
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1396453
- Date first listed:
- 09-Feb-2011
- List Entry Name:
- Hydro-electric Engine House at Castle Drogo
- Statutory Address:
- HYDRO-ELECTRIC ENGINE HOUSE AT CASTLE DROGO
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1396453
- Date first listed:
- 09-Feb-2011
- List Entry Name:
- Hydro-electric Engine House at Castle Drogo
- Statutory Address 1:
- HYDRO-ELECTRIC ENGINE HOUSE AT CASTLE DROGO
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- HYDRO-ELECTRIC ENGINE HOUSE AT CASTLE DROGO
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Devon
- District:
- Teignbridge (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Moretonhampstead
- National Park:
- Dartmoor
- National Grid Reference:
- SX 72515 89874
Reasons for Designation
Yes List
Details
MORETONHAMPSTEAD
1803/0/10006 Hydro-Electric Engine House at Castle 09-FEB-11 Drogo
GV II Turbine house by Sir Edwin Lutyens and built in the 1920s to supply electricity to Castle Drogo.
MATERIAL: The turbine house comprises a small concrete building with a roof now covered in corrugated metal, but formerly thatched.
PLAN: It is a single storey building with a steeply pitched roof. It lies in the valley of the River Teign and is fed by a pipeline which carried water into the screening tanks and then, under pressure, through the turbines within the turbine house.
EXTERIOR: It has a plank double door with two light casement to the east with a second casement window to the north elevation overlooking an adjacent stepped outflow sluice and sluice gate. A series of screening tanks are attached to the west.
INTERIOR: Internally, the turbine house is open to the roof which is of boarded common rafters. A Crompton turbine with a Gilkes governor, generator and distribution board survives in situ along with the machine base and conduit for a second turbine. The paired turbines were intended to be used alternately with one in use during the summer months and the other in winter.
HISTORY: Castle Drogo is an ambitious country house designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens for Julius Drewe (1856-1931), a self-made man who made his fortune in the grocery business, retiring at 33 to pursue his dream of creating a fitting family home which gave dignity to his lineage. Commonly called the 'last castle in England', Castle Drogo (listed Grade I) is undoubtedly one of Lutyens's masterpieces. The foundation stone was laid on the 4th April, 1911 and work continued, intermittently during the war, until 1930. In addition to the house, Lutyens also designed the stables and coach house garages (listed Grade II) and the turbine house, located to the south east of the house on the south bank of the River Teign.
SOURCES Chitty, G, Monuments Protection Programme: Electric Power Generation Step 4 Report (2000), 17, 31, 41 Monuments Protection Programme - Electric Power (Renewables): Site Assessment: Devon 8, Castle Drogo
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The 1920s turbine house by Sir Edwin Lutyens is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: a deliberate use of vernacular references in a small industrial building by Sir Edwin Lutyens at the edge of a designed landscape * Intactness: an unusually complete private electricity generation scheme of the 1920s * Group Value: strong group value with Castle Drogo (listed Grade I); the stables (listed Grade II) and the designed landscape (registered Grade II*)
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 508438
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 26-Jun-2026 at 20:54:42.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.