Details
HENNOCK CHUDLEIGH KNIGHTON
SX 87 NW
5/117 Clay Cutters Arms (formerly listed
- as part of Nos 1, 2, & 3 Claycutters
23.8.55 Cottages)
-
II*
Public House. Second half of C16 or very early C17; right-hand end may be earlier.
Later additions at front and rear. Roughcast cob and stone. Wheat reed thatched
roof, hipped at left-hand end, half-hipped on the right; ridge of far right-hand
section is about half a metre lower than the rest. Rendered brick chimneystack in
left-hand gable. Red sandstone ashlar stack towards right-hand end of ridge, at the
point where the ridge-level drops; stone weathering on right side of stack,
adjusted to lower roof level. In rear wall, off-centre to right, a projecting
stack, also of red sandstone ashlar but with added brick shafts. In C17 the plan
seems to have comprised the standard 3 rooms and a through-passage, with the
addition of an entrance porch at the front and a newel stair with small adjacent
room at the rear, behind the hall and inner room. The inner room end, however, is
lower and separated from the rest by a solid wall; it could be the remains of an
earlier house. The lower end has either been remodelled or extended in C18 or C19,
a further range being built on behind it in C19. Kitchen added at rear in C20. 2
storeys, with 1½;-storey section at right-hand end; single-storey additions at front
and rear. Front is 6 windows wide, the right-hand end having no windows in second
storey. In fourth bay from left a 2-storeyed gabled entrance-porch, the ground
storey of stone, the upper storey possibly of timber-framing. Ceiling of porch has
a double ovolo-moulded beam and a late C16 or early C17 moulded plaster head
surrounded by strapwork. The inner door is C20, but to left of it is an original
double ovolo-moulded wood post and above it an ovolo-moulded wood lintel with raised
run-out stops; above the lintel is a moulded plaster cornice. Upper storey of
porch has remains of a wooden oriel window, coved on the underside and possibly with
carving under the plaster. Above it, but at wall plane, is a C19 wood casement
window of 3 lights each light with 8 panes each. Over that again part of a moulded
timber cornice is just visible, apparently with a slated pent roof built over. To
the left of the porch is a single-storeyed C19 projection with a flat roof. It has
a 2-pane sash window to right and a plank door to left, set back a little. To left
of this again are 2 wood casement windows of 2 lights, each light with 3 panes. To
right of porch are 3 wood casement windows, the centre one a former doorway. The 2
outer casements are of 2 lights, the left-hand one with 3 panes per light and the
right-hand one with 6 panes per light; the former doorway has a fixed sash of 12
panes. In the second storey the first, third and fifth windows from the left have
2-light wood casements with 3 panes per light, while the second window from the left
has a single-light wood casement of 6 panes. The right-hand window is a 3-light
wood casement with 3 panes in the centre light and 6 panes in each of the outer
lights; it is set in an oriel, probably of late C16 or early C17 date, projecting
on 4 moulded corbels. Between the middle 2 corbels is a granite block carved with
the date 1666; this is said to have been re-cut, the orginal date being 1606. The
lower, right-hand section of the building has to right in ground storey a plank door
and to left a 2-light wood casement window with 8 panes per light.
Interior: divisions between hall, passage and lower room have been destroyed to
form a single bar-room. Hall has 2 ovolo-moulded beams with raised run-out stops, a
half-beam at the upper end and a full-beam in the centre, the joists at either side
of it having very small ovolo mouldings. In rear wall is a corbelled granite
chimneypiece, a rare feature in rural Devon buildings. The left-hand side appears
to have been cut away, but the right jamb is hollow-moulded, supporting an ovolo-
moulded corbel and a chamfered lintel; above it is a very small relieving arch. To
right of chimneypiece is a door having a straight-headed chamfered wood frame with
step-stops, and above it an ovolo-moulded wood lintel with step-stops. In the upper
end wall, to left, a door with similar frame, and, to right, a small wall-cupboard
with late C16 or early C17 panelled doors on elaborated butterfly hinges. Inner
room to right of hall, has chamfered beam without visible stops; behind it is a
projecting newel stair, the head of the newel-post carved with chamfer-stops. On
the ground storey one side of the doorframe into the stair survives. Former
through-passage has plain joists above, the front door having a chamfered lintel.
The portion of the lower end next to it also has plain joists and a chamfered beam
with step-stops. The far left-hand end of the bar room has much thinner joists and
is either a later addition or has been remodelled. In second storey the upper end
wall of the room over the hall (now the toilet) has a late C16 or very early C17
piece of moulded plasterwork, probably the overmantel of a fireplace. A pair of
fluted pilasters support a moulded cornice, upon which stand 2 more fluted pilasters
with enriched Ionic capitals, these being linked by a cornice; between them is a
pre-Jacobean royal coat-of-arms with the initials ER. This room has the dated oriel
window mentioned above and was clearly part of a larger room of high quality. The
room over the entrance porch has a door with chamfered wood frame having a cranked
head. Roof over hall, passage and adjacent part of lower room has 3 side-pegged
jointed cruck trusses with through purlins. Apex of roof over hall not inspected,
but truss ove division between hall and passage is clean on the passage side, having
had a partition built into it at a later date.
The building is said to have been divided into 4 cottages at one time, the left-hand
cottage only having been the public house.
Listing NGR: SX8447277437
