Bradfield House

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

It is one of the largest mansions in Devon, having been substantially enlarged in about 1860 by Sir John Walrond Walrond, 1st Baronet (1818–1889), to the design of 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.

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.

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, Parlour or "Spanish Room" contains a highly decorated plasterwork ceiling with ribs and pendants and exceptionally elaborately carved woodwork. Above the paneling is a frieze of Spanish leather.

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.

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