Shute Barton

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Old Shute House

In the civil parish of Shute.
In the historic county of Devon (Modern Authority of Devon, 1974 county of Devon).

Lightly fortified house. Survival of a substantial medieval manor house. Built partly circa 1380 by Sir William Bonville, Sheriff of Dorset, Somerset and Devon. The extensions of late C15 by the Greys, the Marquesses of Dorset and of the late C16 were largely demolished in 1785 when Sir John Pole built Shute House. Large stone rubble house with slate roofs and embattled parapets. U-shaped on plan arranged around a courtyard. Three and two storey ranges. The original south east wing of circa 1380 has the kitchen on the ground floor with hall above. The north east wing is of circa late C15 with a polygonal stair turret at the north end and buttressed on the north east side when extensions were demolished in 1785. The south west two storey gatehouse wing was built or much altered in C15 and forms the third side of the courtyard. The square tower on the south east side of the southeast wing is probably part of the late C15 additions, although the windows are C16 and C17. Most of the other windows are of C15, C16 and C17.

This site has been described as a;
Fortified Manor House.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Possible.
Major remains.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SY25239743

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 449555, 542072

• Web site links
  • http://www.touruk.co.uk/houses/housedev_shute.htm
• Books
  • Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses Vol3 (Cambridge) p632-7
    Salter, Mike, 1999, The Castles of Devon and Cornwall (Malvern) p87 [slight]
    Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1952, Buildings of England: South Devon p259-60
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p356
• Journal Articles
  • Hussey,Christopher, 1951 Feb 2 and 9, Country Life Vol109 p326, 398
• Guidebooks
  • !996, Shute Barton: Leaflet (National Trust)
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p123