Peamore House

This mid-late-C18 Picturesque park and Sublime pleasure ground incorporates a few geometric features in the park which are probably earlier and relate to the site of the house which has been occupied for centuries. It was further developed in the early C19 in similar Picturesque character, with possible design influence by GS Repton when he remodelled the house and designed a lodge for a new drive in the 1820s, the layout reaching its design zenith by 1839. Various elements here inspired landscape painters Francis Towne, John White Abbott and William Payne successively between 1776 and 1816. They focussed on key features, particularly the sublime landscape of the most notable feature, the 1.2 ha. quarry garden called The Rock, with its associated masonry entrance arch (present by 1775) carrying the circuit path to an arched doorway and terrace framing views, as well as the Fish Pond in the East Park which was a feature from the house. Ownership and familial links with two Humphry Repton-designed landscapes of the 1790s, as well as architectural work here by his son George Stanley, may indicate his influence directly or indirectly. The rolling topography was exploited to provide numerous viewpoints taking in seamlessly the extensive panoramas of Exeter, the surrounding Devon and distant Somerset countryside and Exe estuary, which were remarked upon for the quality of their composition in print in the late C18.

For a full description view the Historic England Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest and see the article in DGT Journal 7, Peamore, a Picturesque Pleasance.

Peamore House listed Grade II

Peamore Cottage and Adjoining Garden Wall listed Grade II

Enclosure North East of Peamore Cottage Scheduled

Peamore War Memorial listed Grade II

See Historic England Sources.