Description

DARTMOUTH

SX8850 WARFLEET ROAD, Warfleet
673-1/7/301 (East side)
23/10/72 Paradise Point and Oriel House
including front boundary wall
(Formerly Listed as:
WARFLEET
Rowensbury)

GV II

Formerly known as: Ravensbury WARFLEET ROAD Warfleet.
Large house, the former billiard room block now divided off as
Oriel House. c1855, the Oriel House part was a c1900 addition.
Flemish-bond yellow brick with minimal Bathstone dressings,
some painted brick on the service side, and some
slate-hanging; projecting end, rear lateral and axial brick
stacks have chimneyshafts with old pots.
PLAN: Double-depth, 2 rooms wide, with central entrance
passage and main stairs off the right side. Principal rooms on
left and to rear, service rooms to right. The former billiard
room extension, now Oriel House, projects forward from right
corner.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys with attics; Oriel House of 2 storeys.
Multi-gabled elevations. Entrance front an asymmetrical
1:2:1-window range, all openings under flat brick arches,
mostly narrow horned 8-pane sashes, but first-floor right a
horned 12-pane sash. Central bay broken forward with canted
corners to first floor and parapet above; it contains doorway
to right flanked by pilaster buttresses and contains a fielded
6-panel door under a plain overlight. Another doorway in right
bay has wide elliptical arch and contains a similar door with
side lights and large fanlight with intersecting glazing bars.
Gable-ended roof with central gable, all with open
scroll-pattern bargeboards which are continued under the eaves
as a valance and incorporate bold pendants and finials at each
apex, corner and valley. Other sides in same style. Left end a
3-window range containing mostly horned 12-pane sashes and a
canted bay ground-floor right. Timber verandah and balcony
round northern corner with French windows behind; 3 bays each
side on square posts with moulded capitals to low Tudor arches
and console brackets to balcony floor, ground floor glazed and
each bay 3 lights with horizontal panes below clerestorey with
vertical glazing bars, and verandah with a simple patterned
balustrade. Rear includes another French window to left of the
verandah and another canted bay ground-floor left. Right end
slate-hung, less regular, with projecting service block
containing casement windows.
Former billiard room block, Oriel House, is a c1900 version of
the same style, much modernised in the C20. It features a
first-floor oriel window, round-headed doorway, C20
twelve-pane probably-original sashes without glazing bars,
glazed ridge and slate-hanging to rear.
INTERIOR: Not inspected, but noted as having stick-baluster
open-string stair, panelled doors and original chimneypieces.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: Tall stone rubble wall alongside the road
is probably original; it includes a round-headed gateway close
to the service end of the house.
HISTORY: Ravensbury was built on the site of Paradise Fort.
From 1861-78 it was the home of George Parker Bidder, The
Calculating Boy, who was taken from the fairground and his
education sponsored by wealthy patrons after which he
prospered as an inventive entrepreneur, developing the steam
trawler. For prints of the place before (1830) and after its
erection (c1860) see sources. It occupies a prominent position
and forms part of a group with other listed buildings around
Warfleet Creek.
(Freeman, Ray: Dartmouth and its Neighbours: Phillimore:
1990-: P.172-4/PL.23/PL.104).

Listing NGR: SX8815750481

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26580082

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

• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)