Silver House

Details

CHULMLEIGH EAST STREET, (south side), SS 6814 -6914 Chulmleigh 7/60 Silver House GV II House. Early C16, remodelled in early C17, refenestrated in C19, and undergoing alterations at time of survey (June 1986). Painted roughcast rendered stone rubble and cob. Thatch roof, asbestos slate roof to rear, gable end to left and hipped at right end. Tall front lateral stone rubble hall stack with tapered cap and stone rubble stack at left end shared with Beggars Roost (q.v.). Corrugated iron roofs to rear ranges. Plan: 2 room and through-passage plan, lower end to left with single storey, rear service ranges to each end, creating overall U-shaped plan. Originally a open hall house with hall to right of screens passage and lower end to left. The smoke-blackening extends from end to end of the front range. To judge by the similar hollow chamfered bressumers at each end of the building, the lower end and hall were floored and hall stack inserted at the same period, but the lower gable end stack is a late C17 insertion. The lower end therefore appears to have been converted at this period from a buttery and cellar (there being 2 doorways to the screen on the lower side of the passage) to a parlour. In the late C18 or early C19, a hip was introduced at the right end, and it is not therefore clear whether the house may have originally extended beyond the hall to the right. Probably at the same time a single storey gable-ended rear with 2 small service rooms to rear right end and a stair outshut to the rear of the lower end which was later enclosed by a lean-to roof over the rear outbuilding which extends at right angles to the rear left end. In the early C20, the through-passage was modified by removing the screen-on the hall side and inserting a stud partition encroaching further into the hall, a winder staircase replacing the original to the rear right side of the passage. Exterior: 2 storeys. 3 window range. Early to mid C19 fenestration entirely intact, all hornless 12 paned sashes. Ground floor has similar sashes to left of plank door and at right end, the 2 storey hall bay having been built out in line with the lateral stack. C19 3 light casement 2 panes per light to upper storey of main range at rear and similar 4 light casement 3 panes per light to courtyard face of right-hand rear service range. Interior: lower end has hollow chamfered bressumer to the gable end, the heavy square-cut axial joists supported entirely by this and the plank and muntin screen on the lower side of the passage. The stack is clearly a late C17 insertion and has a chamfered timber lintel with small hollow step and large bar stops. There is no bread oven. Plank and muntin screen, concealed on passage side, has as seen from lower side, chamfered muntins, 3 planks wide to right of 2 4-centred arched doorways, the left-hand doorway blocked at an early date probably when the stack was inserted, the right-hand doorway modified slightly in C19 with the insertion of a straight- headed doorway. The wider bay at the left end is comparable to that at Bolberry Cottage, South Molton Street (q.v), it is wide enough for a third doorway, and the headrail here is unchamfered; it may therefore have given access to the staircase in the through-passage. Only the upper treads of the inserted staircase in the rear outshot at the left-hand corner of the lower end survive. The outbuilding beyond has a cobbled floor. The front and rear through-passage doorways show clear evidence of having been reduced in width, the front section of the headrail to the screen on the hall-side of the passage indicating its former considerable width. Between the screens is a cross ceiling beam, hollow chamfered on the lower side only. Hall fireplace has large but unchamfered timber lintel, and a small bread oven in the left-hand jamb. Hollow-chamfered bressumer at upper end of hall, finishing short at the front end where the hall bay has been built out. C19 grate to chamber over lower end. Roof: 2 cruck trusses, raised and possibly originally jointed, 1 sited forward of the former screen over the hall, the other situated over the lower side of the through- passage, and originally fully closed, but now to collar level only. 2 tiers of butt purlins and diagonally threaded ridge purlins. The third truss close to the left gable end has straight principals of lighter scantling and the purlins are trenched rather than threaded. However, all the roof members including battens and rafters (but not the underside of the thatch) are smoke-blackened, except at right end where a hip has been introduced. The lower gable end wall also appears to show evidence of smoke-blackening.

Listing NGR: SS6882414256

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

97238

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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