Details
SILVERTON FORE STREET (west side),
SS 90 SE
Silverton
7/232 No.1 (The Old Church House)
-
5.4.66
GV II
House and shop, reputedly once the Church House. Late C16 with later alterations.
Mostly cob, with some rubble, stone footings all roughcast, gable-end thatched roof
forming a catslide of continuous rear outshut, the rear outbuildings, fronting
Tiverton Road, mostly of the same materials, with some brick and breezeblock
patching. Probably formerly a 3-room, through-passage plan house, with hall and
parlour to the right of the now blocked passage, and an extension (added soon after
the main building phase) to the upper end (circa 1600); lower end also rebuilt
perhaps in early C19. 2 axial stacks with brick shafts, that to the left heating
hall and backing onto former passage, that to the right heating parlour and probably
originally an end stack. 2-storeys.
Front: Irregular fenestration; six 2- and 3-light windows with C19 and C20 casements
to first floor, lintels at eaves level, with (to the right) an oriel window,
supported on shaped brackets, 1:4:1 lights, with ovolo-moulded mullions and surround,
5 or 10 leaded panes per light, with 1 original catch. 3- and 4-light casement
windows to ground floor, that to the left possibly occupying position of former
passage, with C20 shop window to the right of the present entrance.
Rear: with two 2-light chamfered window frames, 1 with stanchions and 1 not in-situ,
both to first floor. C19 outbuildings.
Interior: right-hand room in circa 1600 extension with 2 axial beams, chamfered, 1
with pyramid stops; hall and parlour, now a single room, with deeply chamfered cross
beams, with pyramid stops; left-hand room at lower end with 2 chamfered step-stopped
beams. 4 jointed crucks, 3 to hall and parlour, 1 to the right hand room, apexes
morticed and pegged, paired, trenched purlins, collars replaced; no evidence of
smoke-blackening. The right hand chamber (with the oriel) retains its plaster
ceiling, a single pattern, single-ribbed, central square with concave sides with
lateral units each containing rampant lion; central floral design, with floral motifs
at outer points.
Reference: the house is discussed by Copeland in Trans. Devonshire Association, 93
(1961), 261-2.
Listing NGR: SS9554802891
