Island House Restoration Ltd

A sketch of Island House from the rear of the garden by Mary Curtis (1856)

“Island House, a most ancient and interesting one, is near the castle ; its walls in some parts as thick as those of the castle. The projecting part of it is properly the middle of the house ; the other half, extending on the other side of it, was destroyed by accident by the cannon-balls fired on the castle by Cromwell’s soldiers. At that time a partisan of his was living in the house; and a small part of the half now extending out from the other side of the projecting part, was destroyed; one of the balls was preserved in the house up to 1823. It extended farther out at the back ; for on the outside wall, on the castle side, are two protuberances showing there had been a room ; besides, foundations proving a building went farther out. In the garden the foundation of a rounded tower was discovered underground in 1818; also Roman baths and leaden pipes ; an Etruscan urn was found in the Roman remains. About 150 years ago a small cottage was at the bottom of the garden not far from the wall by the Strand ; there were steps from it to the sea ; the wall at bottom of the garden did not go so far out as now. At the front of the house an old door opening into a yard bears the date 1658. There were two bridges belonging to Island House till 1800, when, through the neglect of a guardian to the then minor — the heir to the property — their possession was lost. One bridge was on the Strand, and taken away a few years ago ; the other remains close to the house. Formerly there was no thoroughfare before the house ; the public road went by that row of houses opposite the turning to Stoneway, and probably passed hence round the back of the mill which is on the Grist. This house appears in the sketch of the castle, dated 1740, and to the right of it.”

The images on this page show some before and after pictures to demonstrate how far we have come along by clearing out debris and making the building safe.