Shute Barton Manor: Part Two, Shute, Devon

Having visited and taken photographs of Shute Barton, the New Shute House and the church next door in 2010, I thought that was the end of it. Until October 2014, when one of my friends told me about some upcoming open days in the Manor and offered for us to go. The church can be seen in the previous article. The first part of Shute Barton Manor, the new Shute House and estate in the post before that.

 

Only a portion of the manor now survives. The Sheriff of Dorset, Somerset and Devon, Sir William Bonville, first partly built it circa 1380. The next owners were the Marquesses of Dorset, the Grey family, and they extended the buildings. When they fell out of favour due to the ill fated move to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne, resulting in her beheading, they had their property confiscated and Shute Barton Manor was taken over by Sir John Pole. Once he'd built the new Shute House he had the manor largely demolished in the late 16th century, leaving only the part we see today. 

 

The first port of call was the courtyard surrounded by the U-shaped building. The photo above shows the central south-east wing comprising the kitchen with the hall above. The square holes in the wall above the kitchen door were for keeping pigeons, as food for the pot. The tour guide told us a funny story about that, as the previous owner of the manor used that door often and finally got so fed up with the pigeons pooing on his head that he had large stones inserted into the holes to prevent them getting in and roosting there.

The north-east wing was built in the late 15th century, the fabulous polygonal turret enclosing the stairs on the north end, seen above and below left. The south-west wing was once the original gatehouse and forms the third side of the courtyard - which can be seen below right - the whole of which is now a Grade I Listed Building.

I can't remember which door we went into first but I think it was the kitchen, so we'll start there.

The fireplace is the longest surviving one in Britain. With a span of 24 feet, I was unable to get all of it on my photo. I managed by angling it from the corner, which makes the Tudor arch a bit lopsided, but most of it's there.

I didn't take many interior photos as it isn't always very easy in a group, plus the lack of room to manouvre, so forgive me if I've lost the plot from here on as to what goes where. The best part for me, though - and the most memorable - was the hall above the kitchen.

The hall floor was raised to allow the addition of an extra floor between it and the ground floor, so the proportions are somewhat foreshortened. It's still very impressive though, with its gorgeous rafters of arched braces and curved wind braces with massive collar beams.

Still in situ in the corner of the fireplace wall is a garderobe; a toilet so-called because robes, especially furs, were hung above to prevent moth damage. Presumably because of the smell! ;)

I think there was one the other side too, as shown by the door in the photo below.

Interestingly, this room shows the architectural changes by seeing the windows. The earlier Mediaeval windows outside can still be seen whereas inside the windows have been altered to the Tudor style of plain oblong lights with diamond panes and an inner Tudor arch above them. The windows on the opposite side of the room are round headed ones with diamond panes, seen below.

 

Now this is where I've mostly lost the plot, lol. Mind, as said earlier, I don't have many photos and can easily place most of them. The ones below are obvious but I don't recall which part of the building they were. The modern bathroom on the right is interesting though, as it shows the top of an arch from a lower floor.

I believe that the descendants of the Pole family - the Pole-Carew's - were still entitled to use this as their home, but they hadn't lived here for quite some time and the living apartments are let out as holiday homes by the National Trust for most of the time.

The chimneypiece, below, was situated in a first floor panelled room in the north-east wing, circa 1660.

Looking out over the garden, above, and a tiny foray into the garden from the ground floor, below.

A view of the gatehouse wing from the north-east wing, above, then out through the green studded door on the north-east wing, as seen at the beginning of the article. This time a bit nearer to show a rather large snail near the top right hand corner. 

Then back out through the gate, after a very interesting tour.

I would recommend a visit if possible, but sadly the National Trust decided to extend the holiday letting period to cover the open day weekends too, in order to recoup losses from their closure during the Covid lockdowns and help cover the costs of upkeep. So there's nothing planned at the moment, but maybe there will be open days again sometime in the future. :)