The Butterwalk

Details

DARTMOUTH

SX874510 DUKE STREET 673-1/8/109 (North side) 14/09/49 No.8 The Butterwalk

GV I

One of a row of merchants' houses, now a shop and museum with accommodation above. The row is dated 1635 and 1640, various minor later alterations and a major renovation programme in the 1950s after severe bomb blast damage in 1943; David Nye and Partners of Westminster, London (architect), PW Wilkins and Sons Ltd. of Torquay (builders). Mixed construction; but unlike the other Butterwalk houses this one is mostly timber-framed but does have some stone rubble walling at ground-floor level; front is an ornate display of timber-framing with slate-hung upper floors, and the walk carried on granite piers; no stacks; slate roof. PLAN: This, the centre unit of the original row, is smaller than its contemporary neighbours. Built end onto the street, one room wide and one room deep with no stack. The first-floor room is now part of Dartmouth Museum with No.6 (qv), but a blocked doorway in the left wall suggests that the upper floors were originally part of No.10 (qv). Early documents mention a passage through the middle of the Butterwalk wide enough for a carriage to a shared back yard with a crane, brewhouse and other communal facilities (see sources). EXTERIOR: 3 storeys and attic; one-window range. Ornate jettied timber-framed front forming part of a unified front comprising Nos 6-12 (even) (qv), the houses of the Dartmouth Butterwalk. The first floor oversails the Butterwalk and is supported on a carved bressummer on an arcade of granite piers with moulded capitals under blocks carved with geometric and heraldic motifs. Recessed shop front is mid C20. First floor of exposed timber-framing. Centre rebuilt with tripartite sash window, centre 12-pane sash. Largely original moulded small-panel framing each side, the faces of the original timbers carved with strapwork patterns and guilloche. End posts (on party walls) are carved as pairs of Ionic pilasters on pedestals under carved brackets supporting the second-floor jetty which has carved fascia. Slate-hung above. Second floor has a central 12-pane sash. Attic under gable is jettied, the bressummer carved with a kind of egg-and-dart. Gable has a horizontal-sliding 12-pane sash. Gabled rear elevation is a plastered timber-frame and contains some original C17 oak mullioned windows. INTERIOR: Well-preserved but few original features are exposed. There is a moulded timber frame to a blocked doorway through to No.10 (qv) and, at ground-floor level, a moulded axial beam. The stone crosswall at ground-floor level has no recognisable function, possibly it was associated with strengthening masonry put into the row in 1657 (see sources). Other C17 features are probably hidden. Upper floors and roof not inspected. HISTORY: This house forms a part of the Dartmouth Butterwalk, which is one of the finest rows of merchants' houses dating from the first half of the C17 anywhere in England. The Butterwalk was built on reclaimed land as part of the same scheme which created the New Quay. The western half was leased to William Gurney in 1628, the eastern half was leased to Mark Hawkings. Both began to build, but in 1635 William Gurney sold his part to Hawkings who completed the row by 1640 at a cost of nearly »2500. The row originally continued one house further east; the Butterwalk arcade was of 13 granite piers and is now of 11. Backed onto river when originally built. (Freeman, Ray: Dartmouth and its Neighbours: Phillimore: 1990-: P.80-83; Devon Buildings: Laithwaite, Michael: Town Houses up to 1660: Devon Books: 1990-: P.113-5).

Listing NGR: SX8778351408

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

387231

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Freeman, R, Dartmouth and its Neighbours, (1990), 80-83
Laithwaite, M, Devon Buildings in Town Buildings Up To 1660, (1990), 113-5

End of official list entry

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