Shiphay Manor

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Shiphay Manor
Devon
Location
Grid reference: SX89656508
Location: 50°28’34"N, 3°33’18"W
Town: Torquay
History
Built 1884
Information
Condition: Converted to classrooms
Owned by: Torquay Boys' Grammar School

Shiphay Manor is a manor house in Torquay in south-eastern Devon. Originally this was the site of a monastic grange for nearby Torre Abbey, but the current house is far more modern, built in 1884.

The house is a modest Victorian manor house, built of red sandstone rubble. Adjacent is a ruined barn which has in its own right been designated a Grade II listed building. The house has been used as a hotel, a riding school and a night club.

History

There is documentation regarding Shiphay Manor from the 16th century, apparently a monastic grange linked to Torre Abbey.[1] After the dissolution of the monasteries the estate came into private hands. A manor house was built in around 1665. The house and estate were sold to William Kitson of Painsford in 1740.

In 1884, the Stuart-period house was torn down and rebuilt.[2] The new manor house was built in red sandstone rubble, with moulded red brick chimney stacks. The roof was made of pantiles, ridged with terracotta. The front aspect is two storeys high, with an off-centre two-storey porch.[1]

The nearby 15th century barn adjacent to the manor, which may have held a 12th-century chapel, has been designated a Grade II listed building. The barn is constructed from grey sandstone rubble, and has fallen into ruin, currently without a roof. An outhouse built onto the barn in the 19th century includes a corrugated iron roof.[3]

Changing uses

The house has had several uses through the 20th century, including a country club hotel and a riding school. During the 1970s, the ground floor was boarded up. Soon after, the manor was used as a high class private member's club,[1] which was owned by the Mathews Brothers with live performances. In the early 1990s, the Mathews brothers closed all their nightclubs.[4]

The Manor became the Torquay Girls' Grammar School 6th form block in the 1980s and is now part of Torquay Boys' Grammar School used as the Art and Media Studies Department.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 National Monuments Record: No. 138412 – Shiphay Manor
  2. Percy Russell, A History Of Torquay (Torquay: Devonshire Press Limited, 1960), 168–169
  3. National Monuments Record: No. 446199 – Barn at Shiphay Manor
  4. "Riviera People – Colin Matthews". English Riviera Magazine. 14 April 2016. http://www.englishrivieramagazine.co.uk/riviera-people-trudi-knapman-2/. Retrieved 9 July 2016.