Church Cottage

Details

BICKINGTON BICKINGTON SX 77 SE 7/25 Church Cottage - GV II

House. Late C16 or C17; north end rebuilt C20 and kitchen added at north end of east side. Roughcast exterior over limestone rubble ground storey and cob upper storey. Asbestos-slated roof, hipped at north end. Large old chimneystacks, with tapered tops and thatch weatherings, on south gable and on centre of ridge; a C20 stack on ridge a little way north of centre. Until its conversion to a single house in late C20 the building comprised a pair of cottages at right-angles to the road and a barn (now rebuilt) at the north end. The cottages probably originated as a house of 2-room plan with centre doorway (now converted to a window) and gable- stacks, although it is possible that the original entrance was through the gable fronting the road. 2 storeys. Main, west, front is 5 windows wide, the 2 left- hand windows belonging to the rebuilt barn. This has C20 wood casements with leaded panes and a C20 door with lean-to porch. The older part of the house has 3 C19 windows to right of ground storey. Middle window is a 2-light wood casement with 6 panes per light; small outer windows are of 1 light, the right-hand window with 4 panes. Above them is a C20 canopy with pent roof. In second storey are 3 C19 wood casement windows, the centre one of 2 lights, the outer ones of 3 lights; the left-hand window has C20 leaded panes, but the other 2 have 3 panes of mostly old glass in each light. South gable, fronting road, has doorway to left and rectangular oven projection to right. To left of doorway is a solid wall with built-in seat, forming a porch next to the oven; porch and oven share a slated pent roof partly covered with cement. Above doorway is a 2-light C19 casement window with 2 panes per light. The east wall, as far as the added kitchen, has only 1 window; this is in ground storey, a 4-pane sash, hinged at the top. Interior: each of the 2 south ground-storey rooms has a gable fireplace with chamfered wood lintel, that on the north having small scroll-stops. Both fireplaces have stone-lined ovens at the back, the openings having stone surrounds. The upper floor is carried on heavy joists, most of them lightly chamfered, running from the east to the west wall. The partition between the 2 rooms never seems to have consisted of more than rough studs nailed to one of the joists, presumably with lath and plaster fixed to each side. The west wall of the southern room has been rebuilt for most of its length, apparently replacing a long window which itself appears to have been a later insertion. Old roof-trusses survive under a C20 roof-structure; strusses are probably C18 or early C19 with plain feet resting on the wall-tops and collars pegged to the faces of the principal rafters. The house is not known to have been church property. The 1841 tithe map and schedule show it as owned by Charles Wills (Devon Record Office).

Listing NGR: SX7995472668

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

85223

Legacy System:

LBS

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