Poltimore House

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Poltimore House
PoltimoreHouse1930.jpg
Poltimore House c.1930
Devon UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
location within Devon
Alternative namesBampfylde House
General information
Statusunder renovation
Type Country house
Architectural style Tudor
Town or city Poltimore, Devon
Country England
Coordinates 50°45′29″N3°27′54″W / 50.75794°N 3.46498°W / 50.75794; -3.46498
Construction started1550
Renovatedbegun 2005
OwnerPoltimore House Trust
Listed Building – Grade II*
Designated11 November 1952
Reference no.1098310
Arms of Bampfylde of Poltimore and North Molton: Or, on a bend gules three mullets argent Arms of Bampfylde of Poltimore.svg
Arms of Bampfylde of Poltimore and North Molton: Or, on a bend gules three mullets argent
Poltimore House, drawing by Edmund Prideaux (1693-1745) of Prideaux Place, Cornwall inscribed: Poltimore in Devon, Sir Copleston Bampfyld. Sir Coplestone Warwick Bampfylde, 3rd Baronet (d.1727) inherited Poltimore from his grandfather Sir Coplestone Bampfylde, 2nd Baronet (d.1691) PoltimoreHouse Devon ByEdmundPrideaux.jpg
Poltimore House, drawing by Edmund Prideaux (1693-1745) of Prideaux Place, Cornwall inscribed: Poltimore in Devon, Sir Copleston Bampfyld. Sir Coplestone Warwick Bampfylde, 3rd Baronet (d.1727) inherited Poltimore from his grandfather Sir Coplestone Bampfylde, 2nd Baronet (d.1691)
Another drawing of Poltimore House by Edmund Prideaux PoltimoreHouse Devon DrawingByEdmundPrideaux.PNG
Another drawing of Poltimore House by Edmund Prideaux

Poltimore House is an 18th-century country house in Poltimore, Devon, England. The Manor of Poltimore was from the 13th to the 20th century the seat of the Bampfylde family, which acquired the title Baron Poltimore in 1831. The house retains much of the fabric of earlier buildings on the site erected by the family. It is designated a Grade II* listed building. [1]

Contents

It fell into a dilapidated condition during the second half of the 20th century. A group of volunteers began raising funds to restore the house in 2003, after it was a finalist in the BBC's Restoration programme, missing out on the funding that went with the top prize. [2]

Early in the morning of 9 April 2024 a fire broke out in the building causing extensive structural damage. [3]

History

Acquisition by Bampfyldes

The Bampfylde family were bequeathed the Manor of Poltimore in 1298 by William Pontyngton, a canon of Exeter Cathedral. There is no record of where the early manor house was located, but it is believed to have been situated in or near the village. There is no evidence of a previous house having occupied the site of the present one. Poltimore House was built by Richard Bampfylde (1526-1594), who started the works in 1550. [4]

There is no record of when the house was completed, although when Richard died in 1595, he bequeathed the house to his son, Amyas Bampfylde (d.1626), in his will. As Richard had been appointed Sheriff of Devon in 1576, it is likely that his grand house was complete by then. Two wings of his original house can still be seen in the present building. It is not known what form the original house took, whether it was just these two wings forming an "L", or if there was a third or even a fourth wing forming a courtyard in the middle. Later members of the family added to the building, the last major building works having been in 1908.

The Politmore estate held a number of tenanted estate farms in the area, such as that at Whipton Barton, at Huxham and Heavitree. Many of these had long standing tenants, such as the Rewes at Whipton Barton, where tenancies spanned hundreds of years. [5]

Sold by Bampfyldes

It was occupied by the Bampfylde family until 1920, when it was offered for sale with its grounds and estate. The estate was sold but not the house and grounds, which were then leased to house Poltimore College, a girls' school that closed in 1939. In 1940, the boys from Dover College were evacuated to Poltimore House.

Hospital

The house became a private hospital in 1945, being bought by two Exeter doctors. [6] The conversion to a hospital included the installation of an operating theatre and x-ray facilities. [7]

The hospital had a significant maternity operation, with 1,401 births recorded at Politmore between 1945 and 1960. [7]

Following the formation of the NHS in 1948, around half the admissions were NHS patients, and on the retirement of the doctors who owned the hospital in 1962, the property was sold to the Exeter & Mid-Devon Hospitals Management Committee as a working hospital for £30,000. It then formally became an annex to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, with 70 beds. [8]

It closed as a hospital on 18 June 1974. [9]

Dilapidation

Poltimore House, view from inside the courtyard of restoration works Poltimore House 02.jpg
Poltimore House, view from inside the courtyard of restoration works

It then had a series of owners before suffering an arson attack in 1987 and being left empty from then on. It suffered from theft and vandalism and fell into a state of dilapidation.

Poltimore House Trust

In 2000, Poltimore House Trust was set up to find a use for the house and restore it. [10] The first phase was to encase the house in scaffolding with a roof to protect it, which was done in 2005. In 2009, the Trust secured £500,000 from English Heritage to begin the restoration process.

Poltimore House Trust published its 10-year strategic business plan in 2009. The plan stated that by 2019 the renovated Poltimore House would become:

This range of projects was designed to bring Poltimore House and its grounds back to use as an important resource for local and regional businesses, arts and the community.

Friends of Poltimore House

The charity Friends of Poltimore House was started in 2004. [11] It allows public access to Poltimore House at times published on its website.

Charities involved in restoration

See also

Related Research Articles

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Baron Poltimore, of Poltimore in the County of Devon, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1831 for Sir George Bampfylde, 6th Baronet. His son, the second Baron, held office as Treasurer of the Household from 1872 to 1874 in the first Liberal administration of William Ewart Gladstone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Bampfylde (1691–1750)</span> English landowner and politician

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital</span> Hospital in England

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Sir Richard Warwick Bampfylde, 4th Baronet of Poltimore, North Molton, Warleigh, Tamerton Foliot and Copplestone in Devon and of Hardington in Somerset, England, was Member of Parliament for Exeter (1743–47) and for Devonshire (1747–76).

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sir John Bampfylde, 1st Baronet</span> English lawyer and politician

Sir John Bampfylde, 1st Baronet of Poltimore and North Molton and Tamerton Foliot, all in Devon, was an English lawyer and politician. He was one of Devonshire's Parliamentarian leaders during the Civil War.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amyas Bampfylde</span> Member of the Parliament of England

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George Wentworth Warwick Bampfylde, 4th Baron Poltimore (1882–1965) of Poltimore and North Molton, Devon, was a peer and major landowner in Devonshire, whose family had been seated at Poltimore from about 1300. He was a Justice of the Peace for Devon and occupied the honorary position of High Steward of South Molton, Devon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manor of Poltimore</span> Historic manor in Devon, England

The Manor of Poltimore is a former manor in Devon, England. The manor house known as Poltimore House survives in its 18th-century remodelled form, but has been dilapidated for several decades. A charity named the "Poltimore House Trust" has been established for the purpose of its restoration. The manor was situated within the historic Wonford Hundred and was largely coterminous with the parish of Poltimore and contained the village of Poltimore, 4 miles (6.4 km) north-east of the historic centre of the City of Exeter. It should not be confused with the eponymous Devon estate of Poltimore in the parish of Farway, 16 miles (26 km) east of Exeter. Poltimore was the principal seat of the Bampfylde family from c. 1300 to 1920.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huxham</span> Hamlet in Devon, England

Huxham is a hamlet and civil parish in the county of Devon, England and the district of East Devon and lies about 3 miles from Exeter. The parish has an area of about 800 acres and is surrounded, clockwise from the north, by Rewe, Poltimore, Exeter and Stoke Canon. It is too small to have a parish council and instead has a parish meeting. It was formerly part of the Wonford Hundred and gave its name to a family who possessed the manor from the reign of Henry II to that of Edward III. The manor was then held by the Bampfylde family of Poltimore.

Whipton Barton was an estate farm to the East of Exeter. The 'Barton' suffix is the traditional Devon wording for the manor house, and indicates a demesne in the feudal system.

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References

  1. Historic England. "Poltimore House (1098310)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  2. "Poltimore restoration to go ahead". BBC News . 15 September 2003. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  3. "Massive fire breaks out at historic Poltimore House near Exeter". Devon Live . 9 April 2024. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
  4. Jocelyn Hemming (2005). A Devon House: The Story of Poltimore. University of Plymouth Press. ISBN   978-1-84150-935-8.
  5. "Festivities at Poltimore: Coming of age of the Hon CRGW Bampfylde". Exeter and Plymouth Gazette. 13 December 1880.
  6. Beckett, Matthew (20 September 2010). "Houses as hospitals: the country houses in medical service". The Country Seat.
  7. 1 2 "Poltimore Hospital". Poltimore House.
  8. "Poltimore House". Somerset County Herald. 23 June 1962. p. 5.
  9. Mr Peter Mills (26 July 1976). "Redundant Hospitals (South-West Region)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . Vol. 916. Parliament of the United Kingdom: House of Commons.
  10. "Poltimore House Trust". Poltimore House. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  11. "Friends of Poltimore House". Poltimore House. Retrieved 11 January 2024.

Further reading