Magpie Cottage and Wisteria Cottage

Details

KENN KENN SX 98 NW

2/177 Magpie Cottage and Wisteria Cottage

GV II

House divided into 2. Late medieval origins, probably remodelled in the C17. Whitewashed rendered stone ; thatched roof, gabled at ends ; left end stack, axial stack, projecting right end stack, all with brick shafts. Plan: A late medieval open hall house in origin ; the extent of the open hall is not entirely clear but a thick wall and hip cruck to the left (higher end) of the present hall suggests that the medieval house may have been 2 rooms wide (lower end to the right), although smoke blackened thatch is said to extend the full length of the 2 higher end rooms (information from thatcher). The house was probably floored in the C17, with the hall stack backing on to a cross passage ; the lower end (Wisteria Cottage) has been divided off as a separate cottage. The floor levels of the house are odd ; the ground floor of Magpie Cottage is raised high above the ground and there is a cellar below the cross passage. Rear lean-to to Magpie Cottage. Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 5 window front, the eaves thatch eyebrowed over the 3 left-hand windows. Flight of stone steps up to C20 front door to cross passage (Magpie Cottage) ; front door to left of Wisteria Cottage. 2- and 3-light timber casement windows, C19 or early C20, with small panes except the first floor windows to Magpie Cottage which are C20 timber casements with glazing bars. 2 ground floor windows left have shutters C20 first floor addition to the rear of Wisteria cottage. Interior: Magpie Cottage only inspected. The ashlar stone back of the hall stack is exposed in the passage with a stone cornice (a typical feature of medieval houses in the Teign Valley). The hall fireplace has granite jambs and a chamfered step-stopped lintel ; chamfered crossbeams. The left-hand room has a chamfered axial beam and a stair against the rear wall. Roof: No access to apex at time of survey but hip crucks survive both at the left end of the house and against the crosswall between the 2 rooms. There is also a plastered-over jointed cruck. Smoke-blackened thatch and a sooted rafter were visible at time of survey while the house was being rethatched and the thatcher reported the discovery of a smoke hole, undamaged during re-thatching. A traditional house of medieval origins.

Listing NGR: SX9196485476

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

85846

Legacy System:

LBS

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