Great Fulford

Great Fulford House in 2015, view from south-east
Great Fulford House, view from south-east. 1780 watercolour, British Library.[1] The later remodelling by James Wyatt in 1805 replaced the gables with battlements and added full height bay windows at the corners
Tudor main entrance to courtyard pierced through east front, Great Fulford House. Beyond is the front door leading to the great hall in the west wing. Above is an Elizabethan (16th century) relief sculpted panel showing the arms of Fulford of nine quarters within a strapwork surround with supporters two Saracens
Great Fulford House, east front
Great Fulford House, west front. The full height lancet windows at left light the Grand Staircase; the blind central section houses the full height Great Hall

Great Fulford is an historic estate in the parish of Dunsford, Devon. The grade I listed[2] manor house, known as Great Fulford House, is about 9 miles west of Exeter. Its site was said in 1810 to be "probably the most ancient in the county".[3] The present mansion house is Tudor (16th century) with refurbishment from the late 17th century and further remodelling from about 1800.[4] The prefix "Great" dates from the late 17th century and served to distinguish it from the mansion house known as "Little Fulford"[5] in the parish of Shobrooke, Devon, about 8 miles to the north-east, also owned briefly by Col. Francis Fulford (1666–1700), as a result of his marriage to the heiress of the Tuckfield family. Great Fulford has been the residence of the Fulford family (originally "de Fulford"), which took its name from the estate, from the reign of King Richard I (1189–1199) to the present day. There are thus few, if any, families in Devonshire of more ancient recorded origin still resident at their original seat.[6] In 2004 the estate comprised 3,000 acres (1200 ha).[7]

  1. ^ See similar view in 1776 drawing by Francis Towne (1739–1816), Tate Gallery, London [1]
  2. ^ Listed building text
  3. ^ Prince, p.395, 1810 footnote 5 (1810)
  4. ^ Listed building text
  5. ^ later known as Shobrooke Park, which was destroyed by fire in 1947.(Pevsner, p.729)
  6. ^ Contenders might be the Coffin family of Portledge, which moved away recently; The Courtenay family feudal barons of Okehampton, surviving as Earls of Devon at Powderham Castle; the Kelly family of Kelly, still resident at Kelly House; The Fortescue family of Whympston, Modbury, surviving until recently in the male line as Earl Fortescue of Castle Hill, Filleigh; The Incledon family of Incledon, Braunton, surviving in a female line there and at adjacent Buckland, Braunton. In England as a whole, the Berkeley family have lived in Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire since the reign of King Henry II (1154–1189) and continue to do so in 2015 in a direct male line
  7. ^ Fulford, Francis, Bearing Up, 2004, p.122