Description

STOKENHAM
SX84SW Widdicombe House
8/179
25.10.51
GV II*

Country house. A circa 1720-5 rebuilding of an earlier house extended in
circa 1820. Dressed and coursed slate wing partly stuccoed. Slate hipped
mansard roof with lead rolls to ridge and lips and moulded wooden eaves
cornice. Axial stacks, some with rebuilt brick shafts.
Plan and Development: The 1720-5 house is L shaped on plan; its main front
range has a central entrance hall and an open-well staircase in a stair
tower at the back in the angle with the rear left hand wing. Behind the
relatively small front rooms there are axial passages at the back, the right
hand contained the servants staircase and therefore this side of the house
was probably the service quarters especially as the room to the right of the
entrance hall seems to have been the china room. The large room (now called
the gallery) in the rear left hand wing must have been the principal room of
the house. In circa 1820 the house was extended by the addition of a wing
on the left (east) side containing drawing room at the front library in
the middle and a large saloon at the back; and behind the rear wing another
stairwell was added. The 2 storey outshut on the back of the right hand end
of the main range is also a C19 addition to extend the service
accommodation. The front porch and the dairy on the front right hand
corner are probably early C19. In the early C20 an outbuilding at right
angles to the new wing was rebuilt as a kitchen wing.
Exterior: 2 storeys and attic. Symmetrical 7-window north front with circa
1820 1-window extension on left. Bend at first floor level. Circa early
C19 12-pane sashes in openings with flat arches with keystones. Central
doorway with C19 stone porch. 5 large dormers with alternating triangular
and segmented pediments being rebuilt at time of survey 1988-9. The left
hand end bay addition has Venetian window on both floors with early C19
sashes and keystones to central round arch lights. The left hand/east/
return 3:2:3 bays, right hand 3 bays stone, the remainder stuccoed and set
back slightly. C19 12-panel sashes with glazing bars, centre and left on
ground floor with round arches, the 3 on left in arched recesses in wide
segmented bow with balcony above with intersecting case-iron balustrade and
hipped canopy. Rear elevation has hipped roof stair tower at centre with
round arch window, its frame renewed, and wing to right with circa early C19
tripartite sash on first floor. To left of stair tower 2-storey extension.
Interior: Very fine interior with most of the original 1720 joinery and
plasterwork intact and with good work of the 1820 period. The entrance hall
has acanthus leaf cornice moulded ceiling, fielded dado and C19 marble
chimneypiece with fluted consoles with lions heads. Very good 1720 open-
well, open string staircase with 3 balusters per tread (fluted and twisted),
moulded mahogany handrail ramped up to Corinthian column newels. Fine
moulded plaster stairwell ceiling with modillion cornice and oval with
acanthus leaf decoration. The landing partition walls to bed chambers are
of fielded panelling. Small room to right of stairwell was probably the
china room and is lined in cupboards with fielded panel doors and shaped
shelves and has moulded cornice and quartrefoil rib moulding to ceiling. To
left of stairwell a small room with fielded panelling and C19 marble
chimneypiece. Drawing room in front of left hard wing has circa 1820
plaster cornice and Neo-classical chimneypiece. Library behind drawing room
has early C19 plaster cornice and C19 marble chimneypiece and bookcases.
Saloon at rear of 1820 wing has early C19 marble chimneypiece. The room in
the original rear wing (gallery) has circa early C20 panelling but at the
back there is a fine early C19 open-we1l staircase with scrolled tread ends,
stick balusters and moulded handrail, and vaulted ceiling with cornice. On
first floor some C18 back staircase in right (west) end rises to the attic
and has moulded string split balusters and moulded handrail. Panelled doors
survive in the attic. The roof structure was altered to a mansard in C19
but, the lower sections of the principals have been retained.
Historical Note: Widdicombe House was the seat of the Holdsworths
Dartmouth merchants. It is said to have been once owned by Captain Cook.
The attribution of Capability Brown to the landscaping of the park is
unfounded.

Listing NGR: SX8119641729

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17533168

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)