Little Fulford

Little Fulford was an historic estate in the parishes of Shobrooke and Crediton, Devon. It should not be confused with Great Fulford, in Dunsford, about 9 miles to the south-west, with which before 1700 it briefly shared common ownership. The Elizabethan mansion house originally called Fulford House was first built by Sir William Peryam (1534-1604), a judge and Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer. It acquired the diminutive epithet "Little" in about 1700 to distinguish it from Fulford House, Dunsford and was at some time after 1797 renamed Shobrooke House, to remove all remaining confusion between the two places. Peryam's mansion was demolished in 1815 and a new house erected on a different site away from the River Creedy. This new building was subsequently remodelled in 1850 in an Italianate style. It was destroyed by fire in 1945 and demolished, with only the stable block remaining today. The landscaped park survives, open on the south side to the public by permissive access, and crossed in parts by public rights of way, with ancient large trees and two sets of ornate entrance gates with a long decorative stone multiple-arched bridge over a large ornamental lake. The large pleasure garden survives, usually closed to the public, with walled kitchen garden and stone walls and balustrades of terraces. The park and gardens are Grade II listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. The estate was the home successively of the families of Peryam, Tuckfield, Hippisley and lastly the Shelley baronets, in whose possession it remains today.

Fulford House was built by Sir William Peryam (1534–1604) Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, who purchased the estate from Robert Mallet of Wolleigh, in the parish of Beaford, Devon. His monument survives in Holy Cross Church, Crediton. He left no male progeny and his estates were inherited by his four daughters and co-heiresses. Little Fulford was the share of his second daughter Elizabeth Peryam (1571-1635), the wife of Sir Robert Basset (1574–1641), MP, of Umberleigh and Heanton Punchardon, Devon.

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