forms the lower and southern part of the former medieval great hall, which was divided by an internal wall in the early 18th century into staircase hall and marble hall. Originally it was double height, as high as the staircase hall to the north, before the ceiling was added in the 18th century to form bedrooms above. At the same time the staircase was inserted into the upper part to form the staircase hall. The screens passage was located in this end of the hall. The timber screen which formed the north side of the screens passage was demolished at the time of the partition, but three medieval Gothic-arched doorways through the south stone wall of the screens passage into the kitchen remain. A single more flatly arched doorway remains high up on the south wall, which formed the entrance to the wooden minstrels' gallery overhanging the great hall. The Marble Hall is used as a sitting room which has an 18th-century fireplace. Contents of the room include a high longcase clock made about 1745 by William Stumbels of Totnes; a large 17th-century Brussels tapestry with rustic farm-yard scenery after Teniers above the fireplace; and a 1553 carved wooden over-mantel decorated with the Courtenay arms. Two portraits of the present Earl of Devon and his wife hang on the north wall above the wooden panelling. Other The house has a mixture of medieval features and fine 18th-century decoration. Upstairs there is a narwhal tusk, sometimes said to be a unicorn horn able to detect poison. Memorial chimneypiece in Dining Hall William Courtenay, 11th Earl of Devon (d. 1888) installed a heraldic chimneypiece in the Dining Hall in memory of his grandfather Reginald Courtenay (1741–1803), Bishop of Exeter from 1797 to 1803, and of his parents. The Dining Hall was built by his father William Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon (d. 1859) between 1847 and his death in 1859, and the 11th Earl completed the internal decorations in 1860, including the linen fold panelling containing several dozen ancestral heraldic shields. It is copied from the medieval chimneypiece in the Bishop's Palace, Exeter, installed c. 1485 by Peter Courtenay (d. 1492) Bishop of Exeter, a younger son of Sir Philip Courtenay (1404–1463) of Powderham. The armorials on the lowest row are from left to right: Arms of Bishop Reginald Courtenay: See of Exeter impaling Courtenay (grandfather of 11th Earl of Devon) Arms