Wiscombe Park is a 19th-century Gothic country house in Southleigh, Devon, UK which stands in parkland some 3 miles west of Colyton. The house is a grade II* listed building. [1] The parkland now hosts the 1000 yard (914 metre) Wiscombe Park Hillclimb course.
Wiscombe belonged in medieval times to Otterton Priory and was granted in the reign of Henry III to Sir William Bonville, in whose time the Park was stocked with deer. [2] It then passed to the Marquis of Dorset, later the Duke of Suffolk, after whose attainder it passed first to the Petre family and then to the Hows, from whom it was bought c.1815 by Charles Gordon of the Gordon family (The Earls of Aberdeen). [3]
The present house was built in 1826 by Joseph Power of Colyton for Gordon on the site of the old manor house. It is a two-storey double depth building of plastered stone rubble with slate roofs. A large single storey billiard room projects at right angles to rear of the left end. [1]
The property was purchased by Richard and Bunny Chichester in 1953 who decided that the park would be ideal for a hill climb course. The first hill climb meeting was staged on 24 August 1958. [4]
Petworth House in the parish of Petworth, West Sussex, England, is a late 17th-century Grade I listed country house, rebuilt in 1688 by Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, and altered in the 1870s to the design of the architect Anthony Salvin. It contains intricate wood-carvings by Grinling Gibbons. It is the manor house of the manor of Petworth. For centuries it was the southern home for the Percy family, earls of Northumberland.
Powderham Castle is a fortified manor house situated within the parish and former manor of Powderham, within the former hundred of Exminster, Devon, about 6 miles (9.7 km) south of the city of Exeter and 1⁄4 mile (0.4 km) north-east of the village of Kenton, where the main public entrance gates are located. It is a Grade I listed building. The park and gardens are Grade II* listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
Maristow House in the parish of Bickleigh, Devon, England, is a large country house set in landscaped parkland, on the River Tavy to the north of Plymouth. It was built in about 1560, rebuilt in the mid-18th century and further remodelled in the early 20th century. Between 1798 and 1938 it was the residence of the Lopes family, Barons Roborough. The house was ruined by fire after World War II, but was restored and converted into apartments in the late 1990s by Kit Martin. It is a grade II* listed building, having been so designated on 29 March 1960.
Loton Park Hill Climb is a hillclimb held in part of the Loton Park deer park just outside the village of Alberbury in Shropshire, England. The track was originally constructed by the members of The Severn Valley Motor Club based in Shrewsbury, in the mid-1950s. The first ever winner was Peter Foulkes in a Cooper Climax. The track was threatened with closure in 1969 and since then events have been organised by the Hagley & District Light Car Club, who obtained the lease on the land from owner Sir Michael Leighton in 1970, in which year the first National A hillclimb was staged.
Loton Park is a country house near Alberbury, Shrewsbury in Shropshire, on the upper reaches of the River Severn. It is a Grade II* listed building. It has been the seat of the Leighton family since 1391.
Old Shute House, located at Shute, near Colyton, Axminster, Devon, is the remnant of a mediaeval manor house with Tudor additions, under the ownership of the National Trust. It was given a Grade I listing on 14 December 1955. It is one of the most important non-fortified manor houses of the Middle Ages still in existence. It was built about 1380 as a hall house and was greatly expanded in the late 16th century and partly demolished in 1785. The original 14th-century house survives, although much altered.
Luscombe Castle is a country house situated near the resort town of Dawlish, in the county of Devon in England. Upon purchasing the land at Luscombe in 1797, Charles Hoare demolished the existing house and commissioned architects John Nash and Humphrey Repton to design a new house and gardens at the site. Nash and Repton came up with an asymmetrical designed building made from Portland stone, with castellated parapets, turrets and pinnacles to create the feel of a picturesque castle.
Ston Easton Park is an English country house built in the 18th century. It lies near the village of Ston Easton, Somerset. It is a Grade I listed building and the grounds are listed Grade II on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
Blackbury Camp, also known as Blackbury Castle, is an Iron Age hill fort in Devon, England. It is managed by English Heritage.
Hillclimbing in Great Britain differs from the style of hillclimb motorsport events staged in many other parts of the world, in that courses are generally short — mostly under one mile (1.6 km) in length — and this means that cars and drivers do not generally cross between British events and the longer hillclimbs found in many other parts of Europe.
Wiscombe Park Hillclimb is a British hillclimb, situated in Colyton, Devon. The course, which is 1000 yards in length — the same as Shelsley Walsh — was opened in 1958. The course was extended in 1961 when the record was held by Addicott in a Lotus at 49.3 secs. Wiscombe has been hosting rounds of the British Hill Climb Championship since the May meeting in 1962.
Charborough House, also known as Charborough Park, is a Grade I listed building, the manor house of the ancient manor of Charborough. The house is between the villages of Sturminster Marshall and Bere Regis in Dorset, England.
Southleigh is a village and civil parish in the East Devon district of Devon, England. Its nearest town is Colyton, which lies approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) east from the village. Southleigh parish encompasses Wiscombe Park with its hill climb course.
Rudding Park Hotel, Spa and Golf is a Grade I listed Regency-style country house in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England.
Colcombe Castle was a castle or fortified house situated about a 0.5 mi (0.80 km) north of the town of Colyton in East Devon.
Wiston House is a 16th-century Grade I listed building set in the South Downs National Park on the south coast of England, surrounded by over 6,000 acres (2,400 ha) of parkland in Wiston, West Sussex. It is the home of Wilton Park, an executive agency of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Burton Park is a 19th-century country house in the civil parish of Duncton in West Sussex, and is situated 1/2 a mile to the east of the village of Duncton, within its own estate. It is a Grade I listed building, now converted into multiple occupation.
Brightling Park is a country estate which lies in the parishes of Brightling and Dallington in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. It is now the home of Grissell Racing, who have operated a racehorse training facility there for more than 30 years.
Stover is a historic estate in the parish of Teigngrace, about half way between the towns of Newton Abbot and Bovey Tracey in South Devon, England. It was bought by James Templer (1722–1782) in 1765 and passed through three generations of that family before being bought by Edward St Maur, 11th Duke of Somerset in 1829.
Great House on South Street in the town of Colyton, Devon, is the remnant of an historic Elizabethan mansion house built by the Yonge family, originally prominent wool merchants in the town, later Yonge baronets. It is a grade II* listed building.