Arlington
Court, is an award winning National
Trust mansion.
The plain exterior of this house, built in neo-classical style in 1822, does little to prepare the visitor for the astonishing rooms inside. Full of collections for every taste, many of them amassed by the eccentric and widely travelled Miss Rosalie Chichester, they include displays of model ships, costume, pewter, shells and other fascinating objects. The Trust's large collection of horse-drawn carriages is housed in the stables and there are carriage rides in the grounds, starting at the house. Walks lead through attractive gardens into extensive parkland grazed by Shetland ponies and Jacob sheep
Arlington Court was built in 1822 for Colonel John Chichester, whose family had owned the estate since 1384. To the south of the house are the foundations of an earlier dwelling dating from the 16th century. The present house was designed by Thomas Lee, a local architect, who had just completed the Wellington Monument in Somerset and was later to design the Guildhall in Barnstaple. The rather severe but beautifully proportioned neo-classical house is relieved by a semi-circular porch and pillars at each corner. In the 1860s the house was enlarged with the addition of a new wing and at the same time a handsome stable block was built.
Inside the house most of the rooms remain as Lee designed them, although in the 1860s the hall was enlarged by the removal of the rooms in the centre of the north front. The servants' quarters and kitchens are situated in the basement so the entire ground floor is devoted to living rooms. The furniture is mostly Regency and Victorian and some of the pieces were made for Arlington Court by a Barnstaple cabinet-maker when the house was built. The bedrooms are totally 19th century in character.
The wonderful collections in the cluttered Victorian interior, are all the work of Miss Rosalie Chichester, the last of the Chichesters of Arlington. Miss Chichester was born at Arlington Court in 1865 and lived there until her death in 1949. She was only child of the flamboyant Bruce Chichester who created the extravagant staircase hall and hung it with yachting pictures. Before Miss Chichester reached her teens she had sailed on two world cruises aboard her father's schooner 'Erminia' .
Arlington Court
The Chichesters love of the sea was passed on to Sir Francis Chichester, Rosalie's nephew, who sailed single-handed around the world in Gipsy Moth IV. Miss Chichester was always an enthusiastic traveller and an assiduous collector, with a special interest in ships and the sea. During her long life she accumulated collections of model ships, British and foreign shells, pewter, snuff boxes, tea caddies, candle snuffers, paperweights and other precious objects.
The house is full of her treasures and her favourite piece, a red amber elephant from China, is prominently displayed in the White Drawing Room. The anteroom next door has a watercolour by William Blake found on top of a cupboard at Arlington in 1949 and probably brought to the house by John Chichester shortly after it was painted.
Miss Chichester had a passion for all living plants and animals and on the first floor is a watercolour of her parrot Polly. The rather eccentric lady kept budgerigars and canaries in brass cages but allowed her parrots to fly freely in the house. She turned the 2,700 acre estate into a nature reserve and the Shetland ponies and Jacob sheep in the grounds are the descendants of those Miss Chichester introduced. On her death in 1949 Miss Chichester bequeathed Arlington Court to the National Trust.
Arlington Court is surrounded by shady lawns planted with specimen trees. In 1865 a formal garden was planted some distance from the house. Here a conservatory built against a high brick wall overlooks three grass terraces and a fountain pool guarded by metal herons, the birds of the Chichester crest. Further down the hill is a wilderness pond hidden by rhododendrons.
There are many walks through the woods and down the hill to a lake formed in the River Yeo half a mile below the house. The woodland was neglected by Miss Chichester because she hated felling trees but they have been rejuvenated by the National Trust.
Arlington has a been at heart of a thriving agricultural estate since the arrival of the first Chichesters. The stable block now houses the National Trust's large collection of horse drawn carriages. Carriage rides can be taken through the 30 acres of informal gardens.
- Barnstaple 01271 850296
- April - Oct: daily except Sat 11.00am - 5.30pm. Footpaths March - Nov.
- 7ml NE of Barnstaple on A39
- Licensed restaurant
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