4 and 5 Gravel Walk

Summary

Pair of semi-detached houses, formerly one house. Early C17, with later modifications and extensions.

Reasons for Designation

4 and 5 Gravel Walk, Cullompton are listed for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* the building originated in the early-C17 as a through-passage house, the plan of which can still be read despite subdivision;
* for the survival of early-C17 internal features, including the rear winder-stair windows, chamfered beams and doorcases, moulded fireplaces, and planked screens;

Historic interest:

* with other contemporaneous buildings in the precinct of the Church of St Andrew, demonstrating the architectural development of the town;

Group value:

* with other C17 buildings on Gravel Walk which are Grade II-listed.

History

Gravel Walk is located in the precinct of the minster church, and reflects the Saxon origins of the area. A long and thin building is shown in this location on the 1839 Tithe map, and by the time of the 1887 Ordnance Survey (OS) map the three sections of the former through-passage house are clearly shown as what can be assumed to be three separate dwellings.

Details

Pair of semi-detached houses, formerly one house. Early-C17, with later modifications and extensions.

MATERIALS: built from cob, plastered over, on a stone plinth, with an asbestos-tile hipped roof with brick stacks.

PLAN: formerly a three-room, through-passage plan house. Number 4, to the right of the entrance to the former central through-passage, has a shallow rear wing to the former inner room. The narrow rear rooms to number 5 and the rear winder-stair turret appear to be early-C17.

EXTERIOR: two storeys with a four-window range to the front elevation. Two and three-light C20 barred casement windows to the first floor, with two three-light and one five-light windows to the ground floor, all C20 barred casements. Both front entrances are under slate-roofed, open porches. The door to the former through-passage, now access to number 5, has a moulded door-surround. To the rear there have been considerable C20 alterations, but the three-light stair-turret window with chamfered jambs and mullions to number 5 survives (although much repaired) along with an early-C19 three-light window with shallow chamfered jambs and mullions and a ring latch. There is an axial chimney stack backing onto the through-passage, and a chimney stack at the left-hand end emerges from front roof slope; there is evidence to suggest there was a large external lateral chimney stack to the right-hand side rear.

INTERIOR: the former through passage has one chamfered cross beam with hollow step stops, with the far doorway now blocked. Within number 5 is the former hall with a large fireplace with stone jambs and a wooden lintel with an ovolo moulding which is carried uninterrupted through rounded corners. There are three cross beams with cyma reversa mouldings and hollow step stops, and a post and wattle screen dividing the hall from the inner room with a deeply-chamfered unstopped beam to its ceiling. The original chamfered door surround to the stair turret within number 5 survives, as does that between the stairs and the rear room, the latter with stops. The stairs have the remains of late-C17 or early-C18 splat balusters and a turned newel. On the first floor there are two C17 doorframes, although one only partially survives, and a screen dividing the front rooms from the back rooms with unchamfered muntins. The room above the hall has a chamfered fireplace, which has been treated in the fashion of the hall fireplace. The roof is of four bays to the main range, with the principals morticed and side-pegged. One of the two trusses to the rear wing has a saddle and is side-pegged.

The building was formerly listed as CULLOMPTON GRAVEL WALK, Cullompton ST 00 NW 10/110 Nos. 4 and 5.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

95300

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Websites
Heritage Gateway: Devon Historic Environment Record, accessed 25/07/2022 from https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MDV43737&resourceID=104

Other
Tithe map, Cullompton (1839) Ordnance Survey, Devon (1887) (1:2500)

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