Chain House
CHAIN HOUSE, 8, BROWNSTON STREET
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1325095
- Date first listed:
- 25-Jan-1990
- List Entry Name:
- Chain House
- Statutory Address:
- CHAIN HOUSE, 8, BROWNSTON STREET
Have you got a photo to share?
Join the Missing Pieces Project. We want you to share your photos and memories.
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2001-11-04
- Reference:
- IOE01/04465/25
- Rights:
- © Mr C L Atkins. Source: Historic England Archive
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1325095
- Date first listed:
- 25-Jan-1990
- List Entry Name:
- Chain House
- Statutory Address 1:
- CHAIN HOUSE, 8, BROWNSTON STREET
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- CHAIN HOUSE, 8, BROWNSTON STREET
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Devon
- District:
- South Hams (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Modbury
- National Grid Reference:
- SX 65868 51685
Details
MODBURY BROWNSTON STREET SX 6451-6551 (west side) 7/80 No 8 (Chain House)
GV II*
House in row. Early C18 street frontage, incorporating earlier cottages behind. Coursed rubble, slate roof. A good street frontage block with deep and narrow back wing possibly on site of earlier cottages. To street is 2-storeys and attic with 4 windows, all good 12-pane sashes to voussoirs with projecting painted keystone, bull-nose Stone cills; in bay 2 a 6-panel fielded door with glazing-bar overlight, in moulded architrave and with flat cantilevered canopy to moulded edge. Four pedimented dormers with 9-pane sashes. Plinth, flat mid string course, modillion wood cornice to secret gutter; decorative hopper-heads to lead down-pipes; brick stacks to each gable. Long back wing in 2 storeys has slate-hung upper level with 4:12:4:12:24-pane, sashes above a 6-panel door, arched casement with Y-tracery, large 4-light sash, further door and two sashes; the end gable, left with rounded corner, has a scatter of pigeon openings. Back of wing has central very broad eaves stack gabled back to roof slope. Interior: ground floor left rood has C18 fireplace surround with egg and dart embellish- ment, rococo scrolls and overmantel with 3 masks. Right-hand room with fielded panelling, modillion cornice and fireplace with unusual Ionic 'consoles', dentilled mantel shelf, good door. Main stair is dog-leg through 2 floors, 3 hoisted balusters per tread. First floor back roam has recess with thistle and lion head brackets; similar recess in front room, left, also bolection mould fire surround. Front, right, good C18 fire surround with eared architrave. Back wing has C17 A-frame roof structure, some very wide floor boards, many contemporary (C18) doors. Here also a second staircase enclosed in panelling, and an C18 cupboard with a pair of small-paned doors; one room with moulded overmantel with keystone. This was clearly an important clothier's house; the name is said to derive from chains along the front of the house, within living memory, and and thought to mark the place where tolls were taken on market days. (Modbury: Our Inheritance, Modbury Local History Society, n.d).
Listing NGR: SX6586851685
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 99672
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Modbury Our Inheritance, ()
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 22-Jun-2026 at 14:37:55.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.