Bradfield House

Bradfield House, east front. In the centre is the mediaeval great hall; the projecting gables are from circa 1600, left the drawing room, right the "Spanish Room". The smaller projections in the angles of the corners are left: the original entrance porch, right: the "Oriel Room"
Bradfield House, east front, photographed from NE in 1904, when still occupied by the Walrond family, showing the formal topiary garden
Bradfield House, Uffculme, eastern approach
Bradfield House, the Victorian south front, circa 1860. The service wing is to the left (west), set back from the main entrance front
Bradfield House, Uffculme, approach from southern entrance lodge
Bradfield House, Uffculme, Victorian west (service) wing, c. 1860, viewed from SW

Bradfield House is a Grade I listed country house situated 2 miles (3.2 km) south-west of Uffculme in the parish of Uffculme, Devon, England.

It is one of the largest mansions in Devon,[1] having been substantially enlarged in about 1860, by the architect John Hayward, and incorporates within the Victorian structure the original mediaeval great hall, one of the largest, most ornate and best preserved in the county.

Description

The mediaeval great hall forms the core of the house and its tall windows are visible in the centre of the eastern front. The drawing room and Spanish Room were added as projecting gable wings to the south and north ends respectively in the 16th century, and these project forward beyond the original external wall of the hall. A small square porch and Oriel Room were added in 1604 and 1592 respectively and sit within the two corners formed by the projecting gables. In about 1860 a major expansion was made, by the addition of a service wing to the west, almost doubling the size of the house, and a new entrance front, with three storey central porch, was created on the south side.

Interior

Great Hall, Bradfield House, Devon, looking toward the north gable wall showing the arms of King James I and a crudely executed wall-painting of two soldiers. The Walrond arms can be seen painted on the window splays to the right[2] The door in the back wall leads to the "Spanish Room" via the internal porch. The door to the right leads to the "Oriel Room"
The Parlour or "Spanish Room", Bradfield House, Uffculme, Devon. Showing inner porch

The house contains several remarkable features. The Great Hall with an early 16th-century hammerbeam roof, one of the most ornate in Devon, comparable to those at Weare Giffard Hall and Orleigh Court. It was repaired in 1860. On the wall is linen-fold paneling and a frieze of Renaissance-period heads within square panels. Several heraldic shields of members of the Walrond family impaled with the armorials of their wives are painted on the walls. The Music Room, as it was called by the Walrond family in 1910,[3] Parlour or "Spanish Room"[4] contains a highly decorated plasterwork ceiling with ribs and pendants and exceptionally elaborately carved woodwork. Above the paneling is a frieze of Spanish leather.

Grounds

The house is surrounded by parkland which retains many magnificent specimen cedar trees. The gate lodge at the entrance to the south drive remains, but is in separate ownership following the 1990s dismemberment of the estate. Nearby is the former Home Farm, with a long brick facade pierced by a tall arch leading into the yard. A stable block with bell-tower and clock is located to the west of the house. In 1875 the Walronds built All Saints Chapel, designed by Hayward, to the east of the house with roadside access, slightly to the south of the eastern entrance gate.

Bradfield Manor

The manor of Bradfield was from the 13th century until the early 20th century the principal seat of the Walrond family. Devon seats of cadet lines of this family included Bovey House in the parish of Beer, purchased c. 1670 from Sir William Pole of Shute and inherited from his first wife by John Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle (d.1842)of Bicton,[5] Dunchideock House, the inheritance of Elizabeth Pitman the wife of the 2nd Baron Waleran,[6] and Tidwell House in East Budleigh, from about 1730.[7] In 1876 the Waldron baronetcy "of Bradfield" was created for Sir John Walrond Walrond, 1st Baronet (1818-1899) and the title Baron Waleran, with variant spelling, was created for his son William Walrond, 1st Baron Waleran (1849-1925). On the death of his son the second baron in 1966, the titles became extinct and the family became extinct in the male line.

Descent of the manor

Walrond

Arms of Walrond of Bradfield, Devon: Argent, three bull's heads cabossed sable armed or; Crest: A heraldic tiger sable pellete[8]
Tomb chest in Bradfield Chapel, north aisle, Uffculme Church, Devon, probably of William Walrond (1610-1669)
Reclining effigy described by Pevsner as "c. 1700",[9] presumed to be of Sir William Walrond (1639-1689) of Bradfield House. Not in its original position, it was probably formerly surrounded by an elaborate canopy, and the now separate half-figures of mourners, probably representing his wife and children, are now placed in front of him on top of a chest tomb inscribed with the date 1663, probably of his grandfather William Walrond (1610-1669), husband of Ursula Specott

Risdon, writing in about 1630, states that the first occupier of Bradfell was Robert de Bradfell, but by the reign of King Henry III (1216-1272) Richard Walrond was lord of the manor.[10] They added to their holding through the acquisition of the manor of Hurst. The manor of Wood came to the family through their marriage to the heiress Agnes Whiting.[11] The descent of Walrond of Bradfield is thus:[12][13]

"This lowe built chamber to each obvious [21] eye
Seemes like a little chapell where he lye
Here in this tumbe my flesh shall rest in hope
When ere I dye this is my aime & scope".

On the front edge of the top slab is written: "1663 ffalax saepe fides testam. vota peribunt constitues tumulum si sapis ipse tuum fulim? 1663" (faith often fails, testamentary vows perish, ....).

Dickinson / Walrond

Sir John Walrond, 1st Baronet (1818-1889), President of the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital (1874), and Benefactor. Portrait by George Frederic Watts (1817–1904). Commissioned by the Trustees of the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. Collection of the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, Exeter, Devon

Recent ownership

After having been vacated by the Walrond family, Mr Lytebaum established at Bradfield a boys' school, known as "Bradfield House School" which it remained until its closure on 23 July 1997[37] It was a residential boys' schools catering for boys with emotional and behavioural problems, the last establishment having been run by Devon County Council. In 1996 the police with child protection officers opened an investigation into allegations of sexual and physical abuse in the school, but no evidence was discovered to support such claims. In 1997, the year it of its closure, Government statistics revealed that of all youths appearing at nearby Cullompton Magistrates' Court, one third gave Bradfield House as their address.[38] The once ornate formal topiary gardens were destroyed during this period. It was then purchased by Mr de Courcy-Ling, who split up and sold the estate, and divided the house internally into 2 separate residences. In 2000, having been owned briefly by a series of speculators, the eastern half was purchased by Chrissie Fairlamb, an interior designer, and her partner Mr Colin Mills, a photographer, who sold it in 2008 to Mr Brown, a smoked-fish manufacturer from Cheshire who resides mostly in California. The western half has been owned since 2012 by Philip Dayer, a retired banker. It remains in 2013 in private ownership.

Sources

Further reading

References

  1. Pevsner, p.197
  2. Pevsner, p.199
  3. Visit to Bradfield in 1910 hosted by Hon. Lionel & Mrs Walrond, described in Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art (re a visit to Cullompton in July 1910), vol. XLII, 1910, pp.27-30
  4. Pevsner
  5. Pevsner, p.190
  6. Pevsner, p.342
  7. Pevsner, p.347
  8. Burke's Landed Gentry, 1937, p.2353
  9. Pevsner, N., Buildings of England: Devon, 2004, p.878
  10. Risdon, Tristram, Survey of Devon, 1810 edition, p.84
  11. Risdon, Tristram, Survey of Devon, 1810 edition, p.84
  12. Vivian, Heraldic Visitations of Devon, 1895, pp.768-769, pedigree of Walrond of Bradfield
  13. Burke, John, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain
  14. "MI" (monumental inscription) per Vivian, but location not specified, probably at Burlescombe
  15. Viviam, p.572, pedigree of Moore of Moorhays
  16. Pevsner & Cherry, Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.514
  17. Risdon, p.89
  18. Vivian, pp.768-9
  19. Burke
  20. Pevsner
  21. "Obvious" (i.e. passing eye, from Latin ob + via, "in the way")
  22. Walrond Papers, no date given
  23. Walrond, Charlotte Margaret Lothian, The Walrond Papers, 1913, published in Devon Notes & Queries, Vol. 8, no. 1 (1914), pp.24-26
  24. Vivian, p.769
  25. Marriage Settlement, Devon Record Office 1926 B/W/FS/21/1-2 1671 - 1672
  26. Vivian, p.769
  27. Walrond Papers, quoted in The Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art (re a visit to Cullompton in July 1910), vol. XLII, 1910, pp.27-30
  28. Vivian, p.769, called Joseph in the Strode pedigree
  29. Vivian, p.719, pedigree of Strode of Newnham
  30. Vivian, p.248-9, pedigree of Courtenay
  31. Following descent from Burke
  32. Devon Record Office, Dickinson/Walrond archives: 1926 B/D/T/1/1-2 1771 (Devon Record Office, Anstey and Thompson of Exeter [1926 B/CO - 1926 B/WT]
  33. Details per visitor information boards "The Merchant Trail" displayed in Tiverton Town centre
  34. Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association, 1910
  35. Pevsner, p.197
  36. Devon Record Office: "1926 B/D/E/6/8 1867 Contents: The Knightshayes Estate. Rough draft contract for sale (Walrond to Amory)"
  37. http://schooletc.co.uk/school-bradfield-house-school-113600
  38. http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/Tudor-mansion-later-school-problem-children/story-11706852-detail/story.html

Coordinates: 50°52′53″N 3°20′57″W / 50.88130°N 3.34905°W / 50.88130; -3.34905

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