Kitley

Kitley is a large country house in landscaped park.  The seat of the Bastards, inherited through marriage to the Pollexfens in 1710. The present appearance of the house is due to a remodelling by GS Repton c.1820-5.  The house is set in beautifully landscaped grounds include parkland, close to the creek, overlooking a large ornamental lake (Swete painted a watercolour of it in1794) divided off from the sea by a dam.  There is a thatched garden lodge.  In 1793 Rev John Swete wrote that Kitley ‘stands in a most beautiful spot, enclosed as it were, by two arms of the Sea, the major part of the track which forms the little headland being covered with woods through which walks are cut that command when the tide comes in, most charming scenery.’  White (1850) wrote ‘the large and elegant mansion stands in the picturesque valley about a mile from the village, upon a finely wooded lawn, embellished with terraces and a sheet of water.’  The 1913 and 1920 OS show a designed, extensive parkland surrounding the house with a long informal approach from the lodge to the west, several plantations, a rookery and a very large lake (fish pond) with a boat house. 

Kitley should be added to the Historic England Register at Grade II.

Kitley listed Grade I. The pair of gate piers, lodge and stable range with coach house all listed Grade II.  

Cherry & Pevsner: The Buildings of England – Devon, 1989: 525-6
S Pugsley: Devon Gardens – An Historical Survey, 1994: 15, 70, 71
T Gray: The Garden History of Devon, 1995: 133-4
R Ackerman: Repository v.11, 1828: pl 7
WWJ Gendall: Views v. 2,1830: 47
Britton & EW Brayley: Devonshire & Cornwall, 1832: 42
Gardener’s Magazine v.18, 1842, 542-43
Garden v. 44,1893: 455
Country Life v. 86,1939: 362-67
T Gray: Devon Country Houses and Gardens Engraved Vol I, 2001: 180-5