One of the most distinctive features of the creative heritage of our part of the world is the ornamental plasterwork dating from the seventeenth century which decorates some of our historic houses. One of the masterworks is the magnificent barrel-vaulted ceiling at Lanhydrock House, recently restored, in which scenes from the Old Testament are intermingled with intricately moulded plants and animals. 

A man named John Abbott from Frithelstock was a leading practitioner of this craft. Exeter Museum has created an online trail mapping some of the most outstanding examples of his creativity. This includes a substantial plaque in Frithelstock Church, erected in 1677 to celebrate the restoration of the monarchy, and ceilings at Exeter’s Custom House, decorated with flowers, fruit, leaves, and writhing eels. Barnstaple Museum also displays a decorative overmantel in a similar style which may have been made by John Abbott or a forebear. 

Bideford’s own Royal Hotel also features in the trail. Many readers will know the ornate ceiling in the Kingsley Room which was once part of a house built by the merchant John Davie in 1688. There are more eels here too, writhing among stylised exotic fruit and acanthus leaves. 

Tucked away in historic buildings across northern Devon are further superb examples of the craft, for example, Rashleigh Barton near Chulmleigh, which is a private home, and Cawsey House in Torrington which is owned by the Landmark Trust. 

Another intriguing example can be found at 8, The Quay, Bideford, which was once the Three Tuns pub. It is an overmantel displaying the same artistry as the other works, but at its centre is a man in late Stuart costume, and the Grenville coat of arms with its three clarions. 

This was earlier believed to have been Sir Richard Grenville’s grandson, Bevil Grenville, who owned property on Bideford Quay and died fighting for the royalists in the Civil War. 

However, local expert David Carter believes that the work was originally made to sit above a fireplace in the Grenville’s house at Stowe, near Kilkhampton, built by Bevil’s son, John, in the late 1670s. Stowe was demolished after little more than sixty years and its contents used in other buildings, so it may have come to Bideford then. 

When the national Heritage Open Days festival comes round in September, no doubt these and other buildings will open their doors to allow the public to hear more of the stories behind these gems of our cultural heritage.