Page:Devon and Cornwall Queries Vol 9 1917.djvu/145

Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries. hi took the name of de Newnham. It is now a farmhouse. Newnham Park stands on the site of the old manor house of Loughtor, formerly the seat of the Courtenays." In Plympton St. Mary Church are two recumbent effigies of knights in plate armour : that in the north aisle representing Richard Stroode, of Newnham, Esq., c. 1464, the other in south aisle, Philip Courtenay, of Loughtor, c. 1514. The old house of Newnham, as it now stands, seems to have been largely rebuilt by the Richard Stroode who died 1464. The house in his day was probably a quadrangle, with a small gatehouse (such as formerly existed at Bradley Manor, Newton Abbot), opposite the hall door, and behind, a second quadrangle of stables, offices and form buildings. Of the first quadrangle, the centre wing with the hall and the south wing remain ; and the kitchen appears to be part of the second courtyard lying behind the hall. The house is built of the country stone with granite for doorways, windows, mullions, fireplaces, chimneys, etc. The hall is now ceiled over and divided into two floors ; the upper floor on a level with the great window transom, alternate granite muUions having been removed from the lower half and wood sash windows inserted. In the upper half. In the south corner are the remains of a small bay with cusps to the window tracery, unlike the hall window, which has plain square heads. It was probably carried down to the level of the large hall window ledge, forming a light to the dais of the hall, but it is now so grown up with foliage that its proportions cannot be clearly traced. The kitchen occupies an unusual position. Instead of lying beyond the screens, it lies behind the great parlour in the south wing, some little distance from the hall, and is of large size. It contains a curious arrangement of two fire- places, both of granite, side by side ; one, of huge size like those in the kitchen of Berry Pomeroy, the other, of small size, more of the proportions of a modern fireplace. The Great Parlour in the south wing, now divided into two rooms, has a fine granite mantel, with the centre divided by an inver- ted V-shaped incision, common to many west Devon and Cornish houses, and which also occurs in Brittany whence perhaps it was introduced. The wall-plates and beams are carved with gothic designs, the ragged staff and scrolls of