Description

BOVEY TRACEY SX 87 NW

5/22 Parke House including the stables - 23.8.55 GV II

Headquarters of Dartmoor National Park, formerly the mansion house of the Hole family. Built for William Hole between 1825 and 1828. Rendered solid walls, probably of stone. Low-pitched slate roofs. Rendered chimney stacks with raised band just below the top; tapered octagonal chimneypots with sunk panels on the sides. Stacks symmetrically placed, 2 to each of the front and side ranges; stacks in front range placed close together to form a centre feature. In middle of roof a circular stair lantern of wood with flat leaded roof; windows with small square panes and quarter-panes. At south-west corner an octagonal wood cupola with bell, the turret having open sides and an ogee leaded roof; fluted pilasters at each angle and a panel with a fringe of guttae above each opening. Square plan, the rooms arranged round 4 sides of a centre stair compartment. 2 storeys. Fronts remain virtually unaltered, especially on the south-east and north-east sides. Main entrance front (to south-east) is 5 windows wide with centre doorway having a porch of inexact Greek Doric type. 2 pairs of unfluted columns support a plain entablature enriched only with guttae, pilaster responds against wall face. The porch stands on a stylobate of 4 granite steps. Double doors, each of 3 panels, the lowest panels flush, the upper panels with raised margin-bands; narrow overlight and sidelights. The sidelights have a flush panel below and 4 panes of glass above, these having quarter-panes both at the side and between them; similar 6-pane overlight. Several of the panes are of old Crown glass. Above the porch is a 6- pane sash window flanked by paired spaced pilaster strips reflecting the porch below. Each strip carries a console supporting a continuous cornice. The rest of the windows in this front are plain with 6-pane sashes, larger in the ground storey; most of them containing old glass. Stringcourse just below sill-level in second storey; front finished with a narrow, deeply projecting cornice and low parapet, the latter stepped up slightly in two stages to the centre. The side-walls are 4 windows wide, the outer bays projecting slightly. Right-hand side has 6-paned sashes like those at the front. Left-hand side differs in having a single tripartite window in centre of ground storey with a 6-paned sash in the centre light and 2-paned sashes in the side-lights. The left-hand bay contains 3 storeys, fitted in without increasing the wall height. Main ground-storey window is of 2 lights with 6-paned sashes in each light; to right of it a narrow window with upper and lower casements of 4 panes each. In third storey a tripartite window with an 8- paned sash in the lower part of the centre light, the upper sash having been replaced by a 2-light casement with 2 panes per light; side-lights have sashes of 2 panes each. At the rear of the building with 2 panes per leaf; sidelights have sashes of 2 panes each. At the rear of the building is a re-used late C16th or early C17th door and wooden doorframe. The frame is ovolo-moulded with raised run- out stops at the foot and a cranked head. Studded plank door with long wrought-iron strap-hinges having fleurs-de-lis terminals; simple wrought- iron knocker. Interior: vestibule has modillion cornice. At rear is a pair of 3-panel doors having glazed side-lights and rectangular overlight, all the glazing in small square panes with quarter-panes. This leads into the central stair hall, the main feature of the house. It has a wooden open-well staircase rising to the second storey; cut strings, decorated only with a thin reed moulding, thin oblong-section balasters 3 to a tread, moulded nosings to the treads and wreathed handrail. Modillion cornice under the second storey landing. Doors leading out of stair hall are mostly 6- panelled with panelled reveals, the second storey panels having raised margin- mouldings. On south-west side of ground storey is a pair of double doors with the upper part glazed with small square panes and quarter-panes. The compartment has a plain cornice and shallow domed ceiling, each slight tympanum with panelled intrados, centre patera and continuous egg-and-dart border; panelled soffit. In centre ceiling opens into an elliptical lantern, the lower part of the drum decorated with wreaths, the upper part glazed and having fluted pilasters between the lights. Ceiling of lantern has a large foliated plaster boss in the centre. Little of interest remains in the rooms, but the north-east ground-storey room has window architraves with Grecian detail. Outbuildings: on the north-west side of house, abutting its north-east end, is an L-shaped stable block (included in the listing). This is 2-storeyed with solid roughcast walls and slated roof. It has few architectural features: a gable with shaped bargeboards at south-west end, 2 door-hoods on scrolled brackets, plank doors, one with wrought-iron strap-hinges, and C19 wood casement windows with 2 or 3 panes per light. The block seems to be of similar date to the house, although some believe it to be the remains of the pre-1825 Parke House. In the garden at front of house is a cooling house (qv), which is separately listed. The previous house at Parke was a pre-1700 building of some quality with an imposing outer gate to the courtyard. Sources: National Park guide to Parke. Devon Record Office - title deeds (312M/EH 200, 312M/TH 589-90), Elizabeth Croker sketchbook, 1843 (2160A add 7/PZ4, p.33).

Listing NGR: SX8059378571

External Links

• Wikidata Q26388916

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