Poltimore House

Poltimore House
Poltimore House c. 1930
location within Devon
Alternative names	Bampfylde House
General information
Status	under renovation
Type	Country house
Architectural style	Tudor
Town or city	Poltimore, Devon
Country	England
Coordinates	50°45′28.62″N 3°27′53.75″W / 50.7579500°N 3.4649306°W / 50.7579500; -3.4649306
Construction started	1550
Renovated	begun 2005
Owner	Poltimore House Trust
Listed Building – Grade II*
Designated	11 November 1952
Reference no.	1098310

Poltimore House is an 18th-century country house in Poltimore, Devon. The Manor of Poltimore was from the 13th to the 20th century the seat of the Bampfylde family, which acquired the title Baron Poltimore in 1831. The house retains much of the fabric of earlier buildings on the site erected by the family. It is designated a Grade II* listed building.

It fell into a dilapidated condition during the second half of the 20th century. A group of volunteers began raising funds to restore the house in 2003, after it was a finalist in the BBC's Restoration programme, missing out on the funding that went with the top prize.

The Bampfylde family were bequeathed the Manor of Poltimore in 1298 by William Pontyngton, a canon of Exeter Cathedral. There is no record of where the early manor house was located, but it is believed to have been situated in or near the village. There is no evidence of a previous house having occupied the site of the present one. Poltimore House was built by Richard Bampfylde (d.1595), who started the works in 1550.

There is no record of when the house was completed, although when Richard died in 1595, he bequeathed the house to his son, Amyas Bampfylde (d.1626), in his will. As Richard had been appointed Sheriff of Devon in 1576, it is likely that his grand house was complete by then. Two wings of his original house can still be seen in the present building. It is not known what form the original house took, whether it was just these two wings forming an "L", or if there was a third or even a fourth wing forming a courtyard in the middle. Later members of the family added to the building, the last major building works having been in 1908.

It was occupied by the Bampfylde family until 1920, when it was offered for sale with its grounds and estate. The estate was sold but not the house and grounds, which were then leased to house Poltimore College, a girls' school that closed in 1939. In 1940, the boys from Dover College were evacuated to Poltimore House. The House became a private hospital in 1945, which was taken over by the National Health Service when it came into existence in 1948. It closed as a hospital in 1974.