Knightshayes Court is a Victorian country house near Tiverton, Devon, England, designed by William Burges for the Heathcoat-Amory family. Nikolaus Pevsner describes it as "an eloquent expression of High Victorian ideals in a country house of moderate size." The house is Grade I listed. The gardens are Grade II* listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.

History

Benjamin Dickinson, a wealthy merchant, banker, and mayor of Tiverton, built the first mansion at Knightshayes between 1785 and 1788. His great-grandson, Sir John Walrond, 1st Baronet, sold the Knightshayes estate to Sir John Heathcoat-Amory, 1st Baronet in 1868. The Heathcoat-Amory family, who had established their wealth from lace production, owned much of the manufacturing and land around Tiverton, and Heathcoat-Amory chose the site of Knightshayes, because of its view of his distant factory, nestling in the Exe valley below. He demolished the Dickinson house and built a new mansion slightly above it, which survives today.

The house

Sir John Heathcoat-Amory, 1st Baronet, having purchased the house and estate of Knightshayes in 1867, in the same year commissioned a new replacement house, to the design of William Burges, the foundation stone of which was laid in 1869. The building was complete by 1874, although not to Burges' original designs, and work had begun on the interior. Unlike Burges' partnership with John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, the relationship between architect and client was not successful, Sir John objecting to Burges' designs both on grounds of cost and style. As Crook (1981) commented, "Heathcoat-Amory built a house he could not afford to decorate, by an architect whose speciality was interior design". The disagreement led to the dismissal of Burges in 1874 and his replacement by John Dibblee Crace. Nevertheless, Knightshayes Court remains the only example built of a medium-sized Burges country house, to the "standard" Victorian arrangement. Its virtues were recognised in its own time; "Knightshayes is eminently picturesque, executed with great vigour and thorough knowledge of detail.." The plan with hall, drawing, morning and smoking rooms, library and billiard room is conventional and the exterior is, by Burges's usual standards, restrained. A massive tower, to have been constructed over the West end, would have given the house "a more overtly romantic silhouette" but only the base was built. "For this quality of design as well as for a certain vigour of treatment, Knightshayes may be considered a typical example of the Revival."

The paintings on display in the house include what is believed to be a self-portrait by Rembrandt, thought to be a study for the version now housed in the Rijksmuseum. This was explored in an episode of the BBC television series Britain's Lost Masterpieces broadcast in 2018.

During the Second World War the house was used as a convalescent home for the U.S. Eighth Air Force.

The Heathcoat-Amory family

Sir John Heathcoat-Amory, 3rd Baronet, grandson of the 1st Baronet, married Joyce Wethered, the golfer. An exhibition of golfing memorabilia can be found in the house. Roderick Heathcoat-Amory (1907–1998), youngest son of the 2nd Baronet, was a Brigadier in the Army. His son is the former Conservative politician David Heathcoat-Amory, who is the uncle of the former political columnist of the Daily Mail newspaper, Edward Heathcoat-Amory.