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Arlington Court

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 extravagent 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' . 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 parot 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.