Dartington Trust is a centre for learning, arts, ecology and social justice based on a 1,200 acre estate near Totnes.
Throughout our history we have drawn leading artists and thinkers including Bernard Leach, composer Igor Stravinsky, cellist Jacqueline du Pre, musician Ravi Shankar, playwright Bernard Shaw and environmental activist Vandana Shiva.
Today, we are:
Schumacher College, Dartington Arts School, Research in Practice, and Dartington School for Social Entrepreneurs
a social-enterprise hub for like-minded organisations and charities
a place for nature with range of conservation, agroforestry and sustainable food-growing projects.
a creative community with a year-round programme of art and craft short courses, theatre, music and dance events as well as a wide selection of films at the independent Barn Cinema.
We are also an award-winning destination with woodland walks, riverside trails, cafés, and restaurants and family-friendly activities.
Dartington Trust Dartington Hall, Dartington, Totnes, Devon, TQ9 6EL
Social media:
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dartington-hall-trust/ (1k)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dartington_great_hall_roof.jpg
Countryside Mobility The Dartington Hall estate is home to 25 acres of Grade 2* listed gardens, open year round from dawn till dusk. With a rich sense of history and a host of delightful features – from a new bridge by artist Peter Randall Page to a sculpture by Henry Moore to 500 year old Spanish Chestnut trees – the gardens at Dartington are worth exploring all year round. The Tramper provides safe, enjoyable and easy access to the Dartington Hall Gardens for anyone who has difficulty walking and is available to hire from the Visitor Centre.
Deer Park - In 2017 an additional route taking in the wider Estate became possible as part of the HLF funded, Deer Park Project. This route, which lasts around 1 - 1.5 hours - takes you to the banks of the River Dart and through the woodland of the Deer Park.
Please note: Only assistance dogs are allowed in the Dartington Hall Gardens. Elsewhere on the Estate, dogs on leads are permitted.
https://countrysidemobility.org/locations/dartington-hall-gardens-estate
Historic England Medieval mansion in educational use.
Built 1388-1399 by John Holland, Earl of Huntingdon and later Duke of Exeter; altered in 1560-1, C17 and 1740 and restored 1926-36 by William Weir for L K Elmhurst.
Limestone and shale rubble with Beerstone dressings. Slate roofs with raised gable end verges.
Large courtyard plan. Hall range on south side has porch to screens passage, 3-storey low east end with chambers above buttery and pantry and central axial passage to large detached kitchen. At high end of hall large fireplace and block of apartments partly rebuilt and (or) raised to 4 storeys in 1560-1.On west side of courtyard range of 10 pairs of lodgings and on east side remains of range which probably comprised 14 pairs of lodgings. On north side of courtyard the so-called 'gate-house' range (probably workshops and dormitory). At east end of north range large 14- bay barn (circa C15) with later engine house on north side.
Hall range has battlements, 4 large pointed arch hall windows (C20 copies of C18) with buttresses between, entrance to left of centre with large 3-storey porch with moulded pointed arch, polygonal stair turret in left angle and bellcote (1737 bell). Rear (S) elevation of hall range has similar hall windows, high left end 4 storeys and projects and at low right end detached kitchen (now attached), square plan with high level lancets. West lodgings range, 2 storeys and attic, 18 window bays, mostly 1740 and C20 fenestration but some original 2-light stone mullion transom windows with shouldered head lights and 2-storey porches with 4 centred arches and stairs to chambers; 2 porches on right (N) largely unaltered but others lost stairs and centre porch missing; at rear of west range row of lateral stacks. North range centre porch missing; at rear of west range row of lateral stacks. North range has rough stone round archway and C20 windows and barn on east has steeply pitched roof and semi-polygonal engine house on outer north side. Surviving north end of east range has 2 gabled wings and lateral stack at back. Detached wall of former south courtyard has seven 4-centred arches and overlooks so-called 'tiltyard' (AM113)
Interior: Hall porch has ribbed vault with Richard II's arms (1390). C20 hall roof by W Weir. Large fireplace unusually situated at high end of hall. Rebuilt screen with gallery above. 4 doorway in screens passage serving stairs to chambers, buttery and pantry and central axial passage to detached kitchen which has 2 enormous fireplaces and rebuilt roof by W Weir. Lower end chambers have some early C17 panelling, moulded plaster emblems and C20 roof, but with impression of original roof in end gable. High end apartment block remodelled circa 1740 but C16 roof survives; circa 1740 stairhall and staircase. South end of lodging range has corridor behind suite of C18 panelled rooms on first floor, large chamfered cross- beams below. 9 bays of roof at north end of lodgings survive, but restored, and closed-truss at centre. Drawing of contemporary galleon scratched on plaster of partition. "Gate-house" range has 6 bays of arched brace raised cruck trusses with king-posts and collar purlins, square-set clasped purlin and wind braces.
Note: Although the north range is believed to be the earlier hall of the Fitzmartins there is evidence for it being contemporary, or nearly so, with Holands hall range, since the lower gable end wall of hall range has impression of a roof truss similar to that of north range. East and west lodging ranges were probably added circa 1393-1400, the east side of hall has remains of circa late C14 wall which seems to be semi-defensive and probably had private quarters for John Holland's family, but circa late C13 foundations were discovered during excavations (1962) which may be remains of the Fitzmartin's manor house. In 1740 Arthur Champernowne remodelled part of the interior of the apartments at the high end of the hall. Little alteration to the plan until early C19 when part of east range was demolished. The work carried out by the elmhurst's between 1926 and 1936 was largely restoration, including reconstruction of hall roof which had been dismantled in 1813, but the barn in the north range was converted into a theatre in 1933-8 by R Hening and Walter Gropius.
Sources:
1. C Platt, excavation report Archaeological Journal CXIX, pp208- 224.
2. A Emery, Dartington Hall (1970)
3. A Emery, Dartington Hall, Devonshire, Archaeological Journal CXV, pp184-202
4. C Hussey, Country Life, Vols LXXIII, p548; LXXXIII, p590, CXLV, p178 and CXLV, p232.
5. V Bonham-Carter, Dartington Hall, 1925-56, a report in the Dartington archive.
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1108353
Historic England Early and mid-C20 gardens principally designed by H Avray Tipping, Beatrix Farrand and Percy Cane, with a walled medieval deer park and a wider early-C20 landscape surrounding early 1930s International Modern-style buildings.
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1000453
Wkipedia Dartington Hall in Dartington, near Totnes, Devon, England, is a country estate that is the headquarters of the Dartington Hall Trust, a charity specialising in the arts, social justice and sustainability. The estate dates from medieval times.
The Trust currently runs 16 charitable programmes, including Schumacher College and the Dartington International Summer School. In addition to developing and promoting arts and educational programmes, the Trust hosts other groups and acts as a venue for retreats.
The hall itself is a Grade I listed building. The gardens are Grade II* listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
