Branscombe, Nr Sidmouth, Devon, EX12

An ancient and historic Grade II* listed manor house and
associated estate for modernisation at the head of a wooded
combe running down to the coast.

Manor House
• 3 main reception rooms
• 8 bedrooms
• 5 bathrooms
• Spiral staircase
• Potential top floor flat
Outside
• Courtyard of stone outbuildings with garaging and workshop
• First floor studio
• Attached 3 bedroom converted barn
• Fig Tree Cottage used as pool house
• Gardens around the house
• About 13 acres of grazing in front of the house
• About 41 acres of broad-leaved woodlands
• About 58 acres in all
Situation
Edge Barton Manor Estate is situated on the edge of the parish of Branscombe, which is about midway between the coastal towns of Sidmouth and Lyme Regis on the beautiful East Devon Coast. It is withing the East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and about 1 mile in land from the “Jurrasic coast”.

It lies on a favoured south sloping bank surrounded by farm and woodland at the end of a no through lane in a settlement of about 7 other properties. From the property a public path leads down the combe to the lower village and beach at Branscombe.

Historic Note
Edge Barton is one of Devon’s oldest surviving manor houses, with a documented history spanning around 800 years. Originally the seat of the Branscombe (Bronescombe) family, including Walter Bronescombe, Bishop of Exeter, it passed in 1377 to the Wadham family, whose most notable member was Nicholas Wadham, founder of Wadham College, Oxford. Through inheritance it later belonged to the Wyndhams and Strangeways before becoming a tenanted farmhouse for over three centuries. In the 19th and 20th centuries it underwent
significant alterations under successive owners. Since 1996 it has been owned by the vendor.

Although extensively altered, its plan still reflects a medieval courtyard house centred on a late 15th-century great hall, with evidence of an earlier chapel and several phases of rebuilding. Architectural changes, including relocated doorways, staircases and fireplaces, reveal the building’s gradual adaptation rather than a single coherent design.
The interior retains many features of interest despite the loss of some original fittings. These include restored medieval roof trusses, carved Beer stone fireplaces, decorative plasterwork and scratched graffiti dating from the early 17th century.

Description
The Edge Barton Manor Estate is a small country estate comprising the main listed manor house supported by outbuildings, an annexe and a barn conversion all standing in grounds of around 58 acres.

Edge Barton Manor House is a fine Grade II* listed country house dating in parts from the 13th and 14th Centuries, with later additions and alterations, most recently with modernisations in the 19th Century. It forms the principal structure in the group of buildings that include a courtyard of former service buildings, the Thatched Barn, Fig Tree Cottage and a former granary, all of which are separately listed Grade II.

Inside the house, there is much evidence of its long history with use of stonework, woodwork, spiral staircase, open fireplaces, and stone mullioned leaded light windows. The house adjoins the courtyard of stone outbuildings which have been converted into domestic use. Part of the courtyard has been developed into a workshop/studio/ annexe, (The Thatched Barn) which has been used as a separate 3-bedroom house with its own access, garden area and services. The remainder of the courtyard accommodates garaging, storage and a garden room/conservatory on the ground floor with another studio on the first floor. In addition to the courtyard within the curtilage of the house there are other outbuildings which have separate Grade II listing and include Fig Tree Cottage, another converted barn that is now used as a pool house, The single storey former granary, which is detached from the other buildings and is used for general domestic storage.

The house and buildings stand in simple gardens that surround the house and are separated into different areas by stone retaining walls. There is parking within the courtyard and a separate area outside and behind The Thatched Barn.

The land includes the park fields in the combe immediately in front of the house. They have been grazed with sheep under an informal annual licence. The pasture extends to about 13 acres and within it there are two areas fenced off for ponds.
The woodlands form the higher ground either side of the combe and the setting for the house and buildings. They are served by some informal paths and are predominantly mature native hardwood species.