In 1784, at the age of 34, Jane Parminter having recently inherited her father’s estate embarked on a Grand Tour of Europe with three companions, her sister Elizabeth, her cousin Mary and another female friend. Their travels would last almost ten years and although Jane kept a detailed journal, all but the first volume were destroyed in the Baedeker bombing of Exeter. What details we have of their itinerary has been extrapolated from the significant quantity of paintings, prints and souvenirs they brought home. It seems certain that they explored France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy and likely that they also took in Spain and Portugal (Jane was born and spent her early years in Lisbon where her wine merchant father had his own business).
As expedition leader, Jane had revealed an unusual strength of character and defied the limitations that polite society routinely imposed on unmarried females. She and her cousin Mary had become firm friends and resolved on their return to build a new house of their own specification in which to share their lives. In 1796 Jane bought a parcel of land on high ground between Exmouth and Lympstone, with a panoramic view of the Exe Estuary. The plan for the 28 acre plot was to build a house of their own design, create a 'ferme ornée' (or ornamental farm), and establish a school for girls from disadvantaged backgrounds. There’s no settled view on just who was responsible for the design or the plans from which the house was built - the 16 sided floor plan must have come from Jane and the many affinities with the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna (which made a powerful impression when they visited) in spatial organisation likewise. Few practising architects would have contemplated such a radical departure from convention.
The completed house became a base for their philanthropic activities, a refuge from a male dominated world and above all a treasure box for all the memorabilia gathered on their travels where much time had been spent staring into cabinets of curiosities and dreaming of creating their own. Daily life would never have been straightforward in such an unusual layout which left oddly shaped rooms and difficult spaces for staircases. But they persevered, ignored the discomforts and gradually populated the spaces and decorated the walls to schemes entirely of their own devising. This sense of autonomy and freedom from masculine interventions was crucial to the plan - it was their good fortune that the Parminter and Walrond inheritances made it all possible.
Best known of all their schemes is the Shell Gallery at the very top of the house - nobody knows how long they spent in a very cramped space, collaging sea shells in multiple configurations across eight separate surfaces or whether it was all done unassisted. But the sheer scale of ambition and endeavour is compelling, though the installation is now too fragile for visitors to inspect. It has recently been repaired and spruced up and the process was broadcast by the BBC in April this year. When Jane died in 1811 she left the property to her cousin Mary on the condition that it could only be bequeathed to an unmarried female relative. That condition was honoured on the death of Mary in 1849, not until 1887 would the condition be rescinded and a male heir take possession. This lead to a programme of modernisation that included replacing the thatched roof with slates, installing Dormer windows in the upstairs rooms, introducing central heating (hence the massive radiators seen in the photo) and obtaining a Dumb Waiter to bring meals from the kitchen to the upper level, thus avoiding the restrictive staircase.
This story of female agency and empowerment is especially fascinating today to all who share concerns about gender imbalance - Jane Parminter exhibited a firm resolve to be unconstrained by male expectations of female conduct in an age where the rights of women came second to their status as male property. That it left a deep scar can be seen in Jane’s determination that no man should get his hands on the home she had worked so hard to create. A la Ronde is the monument to her singular independence, strength of character and intellectual sensibility.
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