Knightshayes Court

Knightshayes Court

Façade of Knightshayes Court
Type	Stately Home
Proprietor	National Trust
Main feature	Grade I listed House
Other features	Landscaped gardens Kitchen garden Topiary Stické court Walks
Public access	Yes
Country	England
Region	Devon
UK Grid square	SS961151
Address	Bolham, Tiverton, Devon
Postcode	EX16 7RQ
Refreshments	Yes
Parking	Yes
Shop	Yes
Website	www.nationaltrust.org.uk

View to the south from the terrace of Knightshayes Court.

Ornamental Pond at Knightshayes Court

Knightshayes Court is a large Victorian country house in Tiverton, Devon, England, designed by William Burges for the Heathcoat-Amory family.

History

The house was commissioned by the lace millionaire, Sir John Heathcoat-Amory (grandson of mill founder John Heathcoat) in 1867 and the foundation stone laid in 1869. By 1874, the building was complete, although not to Burges' original designs, and work had begun on the interior. However, unlike Burges' partnership with John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, the relationship between architect and client was not successful, Sir John objecting to Burges' designs both on grounds of cost and of style. This disagreement led to Burges' sacking in 1874 and his replacement by J.D.Crace. The garden was designed by Edward Kemp.^[1]

Nevertheless, Knightshayes Court remains the only example built of a medium-sized Burges country house, to the "standard" Victorian arrangement. Its virtues were recognised in its own time; "Knightshayes is eminently picturesque, executed with great vigour and thorough knowledge of detail.." The plan with hall, drawing, morning and smoking rooms, library and billiard room is conventional and the exterior is, by Burges' usual standards, restrained. The interior, by contrast, was to have been a riot of Burgesian excess but very little was, in fact, completed. Even those parts of Burges' design that were executed were, in the main, dismantled or covered over by Sir John and his successors.

Sir John Heathcoat-Amory, grandson of the 1st Baronet, was married to Joyce Wethered, the golfer. An exhibition of memorabilia can be found in the house. For her work in the gardens at Knightshayes, she was awarded the Royal Horticultural Society's Victoria Medal of Honour^[2].

Roderick Heathcoat-Amory (1907-1998), youngest son of the second Baronet, was a Brigadier in the Army. His sons are the Conservative politician David Heathcoat-Amory, and the leading political columnist of the Daily Mail, Edward Heathcoat Amory.

Features

The estate includes a rare stické court dating from 1907. Another feature is the garden with its topiary, specimen trees and rare shrubs.

Current ownership

Knightshayes Court has been in the ownership of the National Trust since 1973 and is open to the public. The Trust has made enormous efforts to restore the house to the designs of Burges and Crace; schemes of decoration have been re-instated in many rooms and important pieces of furniture, none original but from other Burges sites, such as Worcester College, Oxford, have been introduced.

Trivia

A small picture of Knightshayes Court appeared in the November 19, 1945 issue of Life magazine. In a letter to the editors regarding an article on English country houses, the writer notes that the house was used as a "rest home or flak house" during World War II for the U.S. Eight Air Force. The picture is of a topiary in the shape of a leaping fox. The writer says the shrubbery all around the house was cut in that shape.^[3]

See also

• Heathcoat-Amory Baronets

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

• Knightshayes Court information at the National Trust

Coordinates: 50°55′45″N 3°28′46″W / 50.92917°N 3.47944°W / 50.92917; -3.47944