Summary
Two houses, formerly a farmhouse, possibly C16, improved in the C17, with later alterations; and attached C17 barn or shippon, converted to residential in the mid-C20.
Reasons for Designation
67 and 69 Church Road, Plymstock, Devon, a C17 farmhouse with earlier origins and C17 barn, both with later alterations and now two houses, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* a good proportion of C17 fabric survives at number 69, including a high-quality stone spiral staircase, and a timber mullioned window on the first floor;
* number 69 also retains earlier, possibly C16, features including chamfered ceiling beams which may contain evidence of a screens passage on the ground floor;
* the surviving external walling to number 67 continues to demonstrate the relationship between the former farmhouse and barn.
Historic interest:
* located in the historic centre of Plymstock, the buildings provide evidence of the development of the settlement, particularly in the C17;
* the buildings also have a historic connection to the Bedford Estate, by whom the farmstead was owned from the mid-C16 until 1911.
Group value:
* with other broadly-contemporary vernacular buildings in the historic core of Plymstock, including the Olde Corte House, 74 Dunstone Road, and Glentide and Eventide on Horn Lane, all of which are listed at Grade II.
History
Today part of the city of Plymouth, Plymstock village probably originated as an early monastic settlement, developing as an outlier to the royal manor of Plympton and then becoming part of the personal estate of Eadwig, King Ethelred II’s youngest son. After Eadwig’s death in 1017 his estate, including the manor of Plymstock, went into the ownership of Tavistock Abbey, where it remained until it was suppressed in 1539. The estate was then given by King Henry VIII to John, Lord Russell, who was consequently appointed the first Earl of Bedford in 1560. In 1694 the fifth Earl became the first Duke of Bedford. As such, the manor of Plymstock was owned by the Bedford estate from the mid-C16 until it was auctioned off in 1911.
Plymstock in the C17 comprised the church, some cottages built by the Bedford estate in the mid C16, and a few farm tenements with outbuildings, orchards and small fields. A lease from May 1696 records that one tenement was leased from William, Duke of Bedford to Margery Pyke; this is the first known record of the building today known as 67 and 69 Church Road (formerly Peeks). The lease also suggests that the house was repaired at this time using timber from the Duke’s lands, and that the tenant grew grain which was to be processed at the Duke’s mills. The building is also included in a plan of property owned by the Bedford estate, drawn up in 1755, where it is described as being a house, with a barn, outhouse, two gardens and an orchard.
67 and 69 Church Road are shown on the 1842 Tithe map as one property with a linear footprint and rear outshuts, occupied by John Edwards. The accompanying Tithe apportionment records that the property was part of the ‘Peeks Tenement’, leased to three people, and including Picks Orchard. Peeks and Picks are probably corruptions of the C17 tenant’s name. The 1894 Ordnance Survey (OS) shows the building as Peeke Farm, a building of two sections, north and south, with outshuts on the south-east side, a long outbuilding further to the east, and a further ancillary building adjacent to the road to the north. Historic mapping shows that little changed at the site in the first decades of the C20.
In 1911 the eleventh Duke of Bedford auctioned the estate. 67 and 69 Church Road were listed in the sales particulars as ‘a desirable small farm known as Peek’s Farm’ with 14 acres of land and a farmhouse comprising a parlour, kitchen and dairy on the ground floor, and four bedrooms on the first floor. A large cellar, a two-stall stable and a large store with loft were also noted. The outcome of the sale is unknown, but the building appears to have been retained as a small farm into the mid-C20. The building is marked as Peeks on OS maps from 1952. By the time of the 1962 OS map the building had become a semi-detached dwelling with the conversion of the stable and large store described in 1911 becoming number 67 Church Road and the former farmhouse becoming number 69 Church Road.
Restoration work in the C21 to number 69 revealed more of the building’s historic fabric, including evidence that the former farmhouse may have been constructed in the C16 as a two-cell cross-passage house, and was improved in the C17 including the addition of a staircase wing, and the construction of a small barn or shippon to the north (now number 67).
Details
Two houses, formerly a farmhouse, possibly C16, improved in the C17, with later alterations; and attached C17 barn or shippon, converted to residential in the mid-C20.
MATERIALS: Plymouth limestone rubble, painted, with some slate hanging above the ground-floor windows to number 69. Slate roofs. Timber doors and windows.
PLAN: rectangular single-depth plan, facing west, with square staircase wing and later small extensions to the east of number 69. The entrance to number 69 is opposite the staircase wing and may be evidence of an earlier two-cell cross-passage house.
EXTERIOR: the former barn or shippon (67) is located to the north of the former farmhouse (69). The building is two storeys under a steep roof with axial and south internal gable stacks, and five window bays to the principal (west) elevation. The entrance to number 69 is central on its elevation, under a C20 porch with symmetrically-placed windows on the ground and first floor and a further window to the left. The rear elevation comprises four phases of C19 and later small extensions; these surround a C17 square two-storey staircase wing with a pitched roof. The south elevation has a single window to the left on the first floor.
Number 67 retains remnants of earlier stonework to the ground floor but appears to have been largely rebuilt in the mid-C20 with inserted windows and doors. The roof has been raised, and the eaves brought forward on the west elevation to straighten the roof line over both properties. On the ground floor of the rear elevation are two openings under rubblestone arches; that to the left has a C20 door, and the adjacent C20 casement window is in a former door opening; this was probably the stable. All windows are C20 timber casements with slate cills unless stated. External doors to number 67 are planked with C20 decorative hinges.
INTERIOR: the ground floor of number 69 has chamfered cross-beams (spanning east to west) with more substantial examples in the central bay. There is a slot in the beam to the south of the entrance, aligned with the staircase to the east, which may be evidence of a screens passage. Whilst the windows themselves are C20 timber casements, the window reveals are deep with some timber lintels. The same can be seen over the principal entrance door on the west wall. The northern room has an inglenook fireplace on the east wall, and the southern room has a fireplace in the south-east corner, both with replacement oak lintels. Adjacent to the southern fireplace is a small recess with a timber door, possibly for storing salt. An opening in the east wall leads to the C19 and later extensions, most recently used as a kitchen and utility room. To the north of this opening is the C17 stone newel staircase; there are various blocked openings, a small window, and an alcove within the staircase. On the first floor in the north room there is a small fireplace on the north wall, and some early-C19 plain timber partitions with planked doors survive. In the south room there is a fireplace in the south-east corner which has an oak lintel with ogee stops. To the left of the fireplace, on the east wall, is the frame of a three-light timber window with chamfered mullions, probably C17 in date, and now blocked. The roof trusses are adzed and pegged, but they are supplemented by many reinforcements, replacements and repairs. The same applies to the rafters and purlins.
The interior of number 67 was converted into domestic use in the mid-C20 and there are few earlier features of note. The floor plan and all fittings are modern, although there is evidence of the historic wall plate in the first-floor corridor and bedrooms.
