Maristow House in the parish of Bickleigh (formerly Tamerton Foliot),

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England, is a large country house set in landscaped parkland, on the

River Tavy The Tavy () is a river on Dartmoor, Devon, England. The name derives from the Brythonic languages, Brythonic root , once thought to mean 'dark' but now generally understood to mean 'to flow'. It has given its name to the town of Tavistock and ...

to the north of

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. 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 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, but was restored and converted into apartments in the late 1990s by Kit Martin. It is a

grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

building, having been so designated on 29 March 1960.

History

The Heywood family built an imposing Georgian mansion here in the 1760s. In 1798, after the death of James Modyford Heywood, the house and estate were bought by the

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n-born Manasseh Masseh Lopes, the son of a rich plantation owner, whose family later gained the title of Baron Roborough. The house was extended and altered in 1907. The Lopes remained seated at Maristow until 1938, after which the house served a variety of purposes: a servicemen's hospital during

; a retirement home for clergy; a residential school, and a field-study centre. Above the house rises the spire of St Martin's chapel, built in 1871 as a successor to an earlier 14th century chapel. Following two disastrous fires, the house has now been restored and converted into twelve private homes.

The house

The house has an E-shaped plan and consists of two storeys and an attic. It is built of rubble stone which has been rendered, and the dressings are stone. The

mansard roof A mansard or mansard roof (also called French roof or curb roof) is a multi-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper, and often punctured by dormer wi ...

is slated and has a modillion cornice and a balustraded parapet. The wings project forwards from the west front, the three-storey porch being in the centre of the facade. It has large Ionic pilasters and a segmental pediment. The

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of Lopes and an iron balcony top the round-arched doorway. The west front has bays arranged in a 2:3:1:3:2 format, whereas the south front has a 2:3:2 arrangement. The interior was partly gutted by fire in the 20th century, but the 18th century staircase survived as did some of the plasterwork and some 18th century moulded door architraves. The ground floor room in the north-eastern corner of the house has 18th century moulded panelling, a moulded plaster ceiling, overdoors with segmental open pediments, a fireplace with eared architraves, and an overmantel carved with wooden festoons.

References

{{reflist Houses completed in 1560 Country houses in Devon Grade II* listed buildings in Devon Grade II* listed houses Bickleigh, South Hams