Restoration of Listed Medieval Hall House, Dartmoor
Today saw the completion of one of our favourite ever projects – the restoration of Staddon House in Walkhampton on the edge of Dartmoor National Park. Our clients, Sue & Geoff Edwards, bought Staddons back in 2014, and after a year negotiating planning consent and 14 months on site the building is now unrecognisable.
When they bought Staddons, Sue & Geoff understood they had taken on a challenge. Having previously restored a house in Cornwall and another in rural Italy, they weren’t under any illusion about the work that would be involved. What they didn’t realise however was that Staddons had much more waiting to be uncovered beneath it’s damp carpets and concrete rendered walls.
On his first visit to the site, Keith McKay the Conservation officer from Dartmoor National Park realised the building might be more than it first appeared. What everyone had assumed was just another Dartmoor Longhouse could actually be something else entirely. As a result the planning process had to be paused whilst archeologists were brought in to help piece together Staddon’s long and varied history and shed some light on how the building had been used.
A stunning Grand Medieval fireplace was uncovered behind the small victorian hearth, lumps of granite on the fireplace in the bedroom were confirmed as Medieval candle sconces. The most exciting news was the uncovering of a medieval beam in the roof space tarred with soot. From all this information it was clear that Staddons had once been a much higher status home and was likely much older than it first appeared. Possibly a high status Medieval Hall House with two storey chamber at one end – perhaps one of the first houses in the village.
The photos attached to this post show how the team at RM builders have brought this fabulous building back to life with the help of the consultants and the passion of the clients. A real team effort from all has lead to a successful result and a studding home.
Thanks to everyone from RM Builders in Tavistock, Rawlings joinery, DB Heating, D Farnham electrical, Devon Stone and Amos lighting for helping us with this amazing project. (Sorry if we missed you off list – we owe you a drink!)
Living Space Architects are based in Exeter, Devon and are specialists in building Conservation and the refurbishment and extension of Listed and Historic buildings. We enjoy working in a Modern Rustic style and introducing new contemporary elements into a historic setting. We work across the south west on refurbishment and restoration projects with a particular expertise working on projects in Dartmoor National Park, Teignbridge, East Devon, Mid Devon, West Devon and Somerset.
