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Pevsner described Fairlynch (originally named Primrose Cottage)(1) as “A delightful early C19 cottage orné (see footnote), now the museum. (It has) a neat, symmetrical front, with arched windows above the thatched porch.  A tiny thatched belvedere rises above the roof.” 

The following description of the house is taken from a booklet produced by Fairlynch Museum (2).  “Many early nineteenth century houses in Salterton were made of cob, a mixture of clay, straw and water, but East Terrace, behind Fairlynch, built between 1800 and 1811, is of brick. Fairlynch, built in the same year as the last of these houses, is also of brick, handmade, probably in a local brickyard.  As Mr Yeates (the first owner) was a ship owner it is very likely that he would have imported the timber for his house.  It is quite possible that when Fairlynch was built there was no porch, but a verandah across the front of the house with a raised tiled floor.  This would account for the high step down from the French windows to the present drive.  Several different porches have been built on the house in this century. The door inside the present porch is the original front door. 

Many windows were blocked to avoid the window tax of 1696.  From 1825 houses with less than eight windows were exempted from window tax which was finally abolished in 1851.  The blind windows on the east and west sides of Fairlynch are part of the original building, designed to break up the blank walls in a symmetrical fashion.  This was proved when it was found by measurement that the blind upper window in the west wall would have been divided by the partition between two rooms.

The main part of the building is of two storeys with ceilings nine foot to nine foot six inches high.  The kitchen wing on the northwest, which was clearly the servants' quarters, has lower ceilings.  Therefore it was possible to stack three rooms neatly one above the other, their windows facing north so that they did not overlook the gentry in the garden.”

The house is Grade II listed and contains a double-wing staircase, an unusual feature for a house of this size.  It is said that Matthew Yeates, who was a shipowner, added the turret to the house so that he could see his ships arriving with their loads of limestone and coal for the Budleigh lime kilns and with timber for Exmouth.

There is no evidence that alterations were made to the house until about 1890.  A bathroom was added over part of the back premises in the 1890s and a window on the halfway landing was converted into a doorway leading into the bathroom. In the 1920s a lean-to kitchen was built against the back wall.  At some stage a wall between two of the downstairs rooms was removed and this is now the main Exhibition Room.

At a public meeting on the 11th November 1966 it was decided that a proposal to buy Fairlynch and turn it into a museum should be adopted. This idea had first been muted by the Misses Gawne and then encouraged by Mrs Hull (then Mrs MacMullen).  An Executive Committee consisting of Mrs MacMullen, Mr Pepperdine, Mr Thompson and Mr M A Tucker was elected, and there was an Advisory Committee of Miss J Gawne, Mr Felix Lewis, Mr A Grant, Mrs Evans and Mr Britton.  Details of the alterations that took place when the house was converted into a museum in 1967 can be found in the booklet and in a file available for study in the Local History Room of the Museum (3).

This is one of a series of articles describing the building and all those who have occupied it.

Fairlynch Museum visiting hours can be found on the museum website

http://www.devonmuseums.net/component/option,com_mumancontent/task,view/sectionid,12/

Compiled by Roger Lendon, 2010, from the following sources:

(1)The Buildings of England; Devon 2nd Edition1989, B.Cherry & N.Pevsner, Yale U.P.

(2)Fairlynch 1811-2007 Published by Fairlynch Museum and Arts Centre £1-50.

(3)Fairlynch. The House and Museum Alterations.  File at Fairlynch Museum.

Footnote by David Daniel, Moderator, 2010:

Cottage Orné is a term given to a class of whimsical “cottages” built during the period 1790 to 1815.  This is the period of the Napoleonic wars with attendant shortages of materials and resources.  This economic background encouraged the gentry to build more modest houses and the rise of the picturesque movement gave prominence to the romantic idea of the rural cottage (1).  These were not real cottages (Sir John Soane’s original design for Knowle Cottage, Sidmouth, comprised 40 rooms (2)) but idealised interpretations in which the landscape setting was as important as the building.  

Generally, they are thatched and have gothic shaped windows with fine and fancy glazing bars.  (Horace Walpole had led the fashion for gothic revival c. 1760, and the fashion was still current.)  In many cases the original thatch will have been replaced by slate over the years.  The principal windows on the ground floor open down to the floor, “French windows”, so as remove the normal separation enjoyed by the gentry between living space and nature.  Verandas are common. Garden design, therefore, breaks with tradition.  Sidmouth boasts a very fine collection of cottages ornés because of its popularity as an emerging seaside resort for the gentry during the Regency period.  Fairlynch is a text book example of the genre though some are more exotic (e.g. the sixteen-sided A La Ronde, Exmouth, inspired by the Byzantine San Vitale Basilica in Ravenna).  There are two others in Budleigh Salterton: Lyndale, 27 Chapel Street and Umbrella Cottage, Fore Street, both are Grade II Listed and marked on the OVA town walk leaflet.

1.“The English House” 1000 years of Domestic Architecture by John Steel and Michael Wright, 2007, ISBN 10: 1-85149-523-1

2.“Sidmouth: A History”, Sidmouth Museum, 1987, ISBN: 0-9512704-0-0  

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