Description

HARBERTON SX75NE 5/386 Tristford House including detached clock tower to E

GV II

Country house, subdivided into 3 tenements. 1849 by George Wightwick for Mrs Wynne Pendarves of the Trist family, enlarged in circa 1857 for J F Trist. Local Devon limestone ashlar with freestone dressings. Rear service wing rendered stone rubble. Slate roofs with stone coped gables. Plan: The original house built around a small stairwell with a south front and rear service wing to north. In circa 1857 a cross wing was added to the left (west) side with a new entrance and a turret was built on the right (south east corner. A former conservatory, probably of 1857, to the right, has been demolished; it originally connected the clock tower to the house but the clock tower is now detached. Exterior: 2 storeys and attic. Original 1849 centre 3 bay range with slightly advanced gables left and right with stone finials and projecting gabled oriel at centre on first storey. Ground storey has large stone mullion canted bay windows with balustrades above and 2-light stone mullion window at centre with hoodmould. Oriel above a 4-centred arch window with hoodmould. Above the bay windows 2-light timber mullion windows with hoodmoulds and recessed panels above in the gables, one containing wheatsheaf, the other a hawk. On right hand corner a 2-storey octagonal tower with 4-centred headed lights to stone mullion windows with hoodmoulds and steep decoratively slated spire with cross weathervane, the coved stone eaves has row of palettes and frieze below with small quatrefoils. To left (west) projecting canted bay to cross wing with stone bracketed cornice and tall shaped gable with moulded ogee-headed attic window. 2 and 3-light stone mullion windows, the ground storey with 4 centred headed lights and moulded string course over, the first floor windows with hoodmoulds. The side of the cross wing has projecting lateral stack with set-offs and single storey porch at the rear with heavily moulded 4-centred arch doorway, fleurons in the moulded cornice above and balustrade with central panel containing coat of arms. The now detached clock tower to right (east) is square on plan, 3-stages, middle stage has 4 centred headed single light window, top stage has moulded stone bullseye, flanked by 4-centred lancets above. The front and rear roundels contain copper clock faces. Stone bracketed cornice with small dome above and stone finials at corners. A low stone wall, with rehung former conservatory windows, links tower to house. Interior: Entrance porch and vestibule has moulded cornice with alternating palmettes and acanthus and moulded 4-centred arch niches and similar arch to hall which has stone chimnmeypiece with Tudor arch and overmantel with recessed panel containing large carved wheatsheaf and hawk holding a fish in its beak. South west room has marble chimneypiece with Tudor arch and flanking columns and moulded plaster coffered ceiling and double pilasters either side of recess in end wall. Other rooms contain marble chimneypieces and moulded plaster cornices. Most of the original joinery is intact including moulded architraves, doors with 4-centre arch panels, panelled window shutters and dado panelling etc. Open-well staircase in central stairwell with octagonal newels with cops and pendants, chamfered square- section balusters and moulded rail. C20 roof light in place of lantern over stair well. Inside rear service range a large early C17 moulded granite fireplace, said to have come from Bowden House south of Totnes. It has ogee and hollow moulding and moulded conves stops to the jambs. The ogee mouldings in the lintel rise over a shaped recess which contains a shield and cornucopia. Historic note: Tristford was the seat of the Trists from the C18, after they had left Bowden House in Totnes.

Listing NGR: SX7791559291

External Links

• Wikidata Q26576521

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Recommended Books

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  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
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  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
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  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
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  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)