Description

BARNSTAPLE

SS5534 BELLAIRE, Pilton
684-1/2/313 (North side)
31/12/73 Bellaire House
(Formerly Listed as:
BELLAIRE, Pilton
(North side)
Bellaire House and house adjoining
to east)

GV II

House. C17 or earlier, refronted and partly refurbished in the
early C18. Smooth-plastered, said to be cob and stone (Reed);
natural slate roof with sprocketed eaves, hipped at ends; end
stacks with brick shafts and old pots.
Courtyard plan with 4 ranges round a small rear yard. Main
range is a 3-room and through-passage plan, 2 rooms to the
right, one to the left with rear outshut and a rear stair
projection. Rear left wing contains a dairy/pantry, rear right
wing contains the kitchen. C17 or earlier features in both
rear wings indicate that the basic U-plan is C17 or earlier.
Rear range on the other side of the courtyard is a former
stable, now converted to a separate cottage in the same
ownership as the house.
2 storeys. Asymmetrical 4-window range with rusticated quoins
and a moulded eaves cornice. Front door to right of centre has
Tuscan doorcase and panelled door, the upper panels glazed. 2
French windows to right of the front door with glazing bars
and margin panes. Late C19 canted bay to left with moulded
cornice and 4-pane sashes. 4 first-floor 12-pane sashes. Rear
elevation has gabled stair projection and one ground floor C17
3-light oak chamfered mullioned window lighting the
dairy/pantry.
INTERIOR: pre-C18 features include a moulded oak beam in the
kitchen, along the wall to the courtyard, and what is likely
to be a garderobe, now reused as first- and ground-floor
cupboards. It is said to have a drain and grating below the
boards on the ground floor. Early C18 features include 2-panel
doors, a bolection-moulded chimneypiece and the stair, which
has turned balusters. Plaster cornices and frieze to passage
and principal ground-floor room. One first-floor room has a
coved ceiling. Later C19 marble chimneypieces. Dairy/pantry
has slate shelves.
Roof: apex not accessible at time of survey but steep pitch
and staright principal rafters suggest a C17 date is possible.
HISTORICAL NOTE: according to Reed, the house was owned by the
Howard family after the Dissolution and in the C18 it was
probably owned by Richard Parminter, a rich Barnstaple
merchant. It was occupied by the Parminter family until 1776.
(Reed MA: Pilton, its past and people: Barnstaple: 1977-:
161).

Listing NGR: SS5544134237

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26664818

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

• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)