Almshouses

Details

In the entry for:-

MORETONHAMPSTEAD CROSS STREET SX 7586 (south side) 8/123 Almshouses 23.8.55 GV I the description shall be amended to read:

Block of 8 almshouses, now converted into 2 cottages. Late medieval, remodelled 1637; restored 1938. Granite ashlar front; left side-wall of granite rubble, right side-wall of coursed and squared granite rubble. Rendered rear wall, described by tenant of No 2 in 1991 as cob; upper part largely rebuilt in C20 brick. The tenant says ashlar at front is merely a facing-up of cob. Thatched roof with gabled ends; brought down to lower eaves level at front. Chimney stacks at gable ends and central axial stack, all with granite ashlar shafts and chamfered cornices, and with rendered tapered caps. The central axial stack has pair of shafts linked by the cornices. Plan: 2 pairs of mirror-image, 1-room plans in each storey; fireplaces in side-walls for the outer almshouses and in centre stack for the inner ones. Access to lower storey by an open gallery at front. Upper storey has an enclosed gallery at front (now annexed as store-rooms for the cottages) with doorway in the left side-wall; no evidence remains of the staircase up to it. The structure behind the front galleries seems to be the remains of a medieval cob building, possibly the hospital reputed to have been established in the town in 1451; the roof structure suggests it had low partitions like a Devon farmhouse, although the inserted axial stack has destroyed the conclusive evidence for this. Garrets were inserted in the C18 or C19. Exterior: 2 storeys. The ground floor is an arcaded loggia of 11 bays, the centre bay a moulded 3-centred arch entrance with cavetto and rounded-moulding, indeterminate stops and chamfered on the inside; hook-hinges for former double-doors. The other arcade arches are segmental and have low relief carved armorial devices in the spandrels and the arches have a continuous roll moulding carried over the abaci of the capitals of the squat tapered monolithic granite columns with astragals and square moulded bases. The arcade stands on a continuous ashlar pedestal with a cavetto moulded cornice and chamfered plinth moulding. The pedestal and voussoirs of the arcade arches are large granite blocks. Over the arcade arches a continuous straight hoodmould terminating in square label stops with single 4-petalled flower carving. Above the central entrance arch is the datestone AN = DO 1637 On the first floor 3 symmetrically and widely-spaced small 3-light cavetto moulded granite mullion windows with later iron-frame leaded casements. Inside the loggia 2 symmetrical pairs of doorways left and right, flanked by a window, the inner doorway of each pair has been blocked to form a window. Wooden lintels, the windows chamfered, the doorways ovolo-moulded, all with hollow stops with grooved bar. The doorways have ovolo and fillet moulded frames with carpenter's mitres and rather worn stops like shield shapes. The windows are C20 2-light casements with leaded panes. The ceiling of the loggia is plastered between chamfered cross beams with hollow step stops which rest on a chamfered wall plate. Right side-wall has a 2-light cavetto-moulded granite window in upper storey; similar to those in front wall, but with a chamfer rather than a fillet framing the moulding. In left side-wall the upper storey doorway has chamfered granite 3-centred arch frame and section of dripstone above and to the left of it; possibly it related to a former staircase. To left is a C20 window with unusual splays matching those in-the right side-wall, although the staircase would probably have blocked it. There are no other openings on either end. The rear has various C20 2- and 3-light casements with glazing bars, but because this wall is rendered it is uncertain which are original openings. Interior now has a 4-roomed cottage at either side of the axial stack; straight-flight inserted staircase against the centre wooden partition of each cottage. The partitions take the form of a stud-and-panel screen on each floor; studs chamfered and having step-stops with grooved bar. At No 2 the screen is visible only on the upper floor. A curiosity of the upper-floor partitions is that they rise to a height of only about 1.80m, with no evidence that they originally continued to the ceiling. There are no old ceiling-beams at this level, nor signs of partitioning in the roof. On the ground floor each room has a cross beam with ovolo and fillet moulding with hollow step stops with double bars, and similar half beam, some of them mutilated. Fireplaces have monolithic granite jambs with either a cavetto moulding or a flat chamfer; wood lintels with ovolo and fillet moulding with grooved bar hollow step stops. The widest fireplaces are in the left ground storey side-wall of each cottage; that at No 2 is particularly wide with the left-hand end separated off by a chamfered granite monolith. The right-hand ground-storey fireplace at No 1 has been mutilated, and that in the right-hand upper-storey room at No 2 is now plastered over. 2 of the doorways leading out of the upper- storey gallery have ovolo-moulded wooden lintels with hollow step stops with grooved bar. The roof trusses are smoke-blackened jointed crucks, each with 2 face-pegs and a slip-tenon; 2 tiers of threaded purlins and ridge; straight halved collars with dovetail joints. The size of the wall-post section of the cruck varies considerably from truss to truss. A large number of common rafters survive. The gable details are not clear, probably because both gable-walls were rebuilt in C17. The almshouses are believed to have been built near a medieval hospital of 1451 and may well be a remodelling of the building itself. Unfortunately their history is largely undocumented. They were acquired by the National Trust in 1952. They are famous especially for the remarkable arcaded loggia. In spite of C20 alterations the interior features are also largely complete.

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MORETONHAMPSTEAD CROSS STREET (south side), SX 7586 Moretonhampstead 8/123 Almshouses 23.8.55 GV I Row of 4 almshouses, converted into 2 cottages. Dated 1637. Granite ashlar front. Dressed and coursed granite rubble end walls, and rendered granite rear wall. Thatched roof with gabled ends; brought down to lower eaves level at front. Chimney stacks at gable ends and central axial stack, all with granite ashlar shafts and chamfered cornices, and with rendered tapered caps. The central axial stack has pair of shafts linked by the cornices. Originally a row of 4 almshouses. Each pair with 2 mirror-image 1-room plans. The rooms have lobby entrances in front of the straight stairs which are situated against wooden plank and muntin partition wall, and there is a fireplace on the opposite side of each room. The plan is the same on the first floor but with additional small rooms at the front over the common loggia on the ground floor. The left (west) gable end has a blocked doorway at first floor level which led into the small first floor front room of the left house. This suggests that the small front rooms were originally a continuous passage providing access to the first floor rooms. It is possible, therefore, that the first floor rooms were originally separate from the ground floor rooms with their own access and that the stairs are a later insertion. The only partition between the front floor front rooms seems to be an inserted stud wall; this evidence makes the first floor access passage very probable. At one time there were attics, but probably not originally. 2 storeys. The ground floor is an arcaded loggia of 11 bays, the centre bay a marbled 3-centred arch entrance with cavetto and ovolo-moulding, indeterminate stops and chamfered on the inside. The other arcade arches are segmental and have low relief carved armorial devices in the spandrels and the arches have a continuous roll moulding carried over the abaci of the capitals of the squat tapered monolithic granite columns with astragals and square moulded bases. The arcade stands on a continuous ashlar pedestal with a cavetto moulded cornice and chamfered plinth moulding. The pedestal and voussoirs of the arcade arches are large granite blocks. Over the arcade arches a continuous straight hoodmould terminating in square label stops with single 4-petalled flower carving. Above the central entrance arch is the datestone AN = DO 1637 On the first floor 3 symmetrically and widely spaced small 3-light cavetto moulded granite mullion windows with later iron-frame leaded casements. Inside the loggia 2 symmetrical pairs of doorways left and right, flanked by a window, the inner doorway of each pair has been blocked to form a window. Wooden lintels, the windows chamfered, the doorways ovolo moulded, all with hollow stops with grooved bar. The doorways have ovolo and fillet moulded wooden frames with carpenter's mitres and rather worn stops like shield shapes. The windows are C20 2-light casements with leaded panes. The ceiling of the loggia is plastered between chamfered cross beams with hollow step stops which rest on a chamfered wall plate. The left (west) return end wall has blocked first floor doorway to what may have been a passage above the loggia. The doorway has chamfered granite 3-centred arch frame and section of dripstone above. C20 window to left, possibly in old opening because the opposite window in the east end is in same position and has cavetto moulded 2-light granite frame. There are no other openings on either end. The rear has various C20 2- and 3-light casements with glazing bars, but because this wall is rendered it is uncertain which are original openings. Interior: each pair of units has been converted into one cottage and one of each pair of staircases has been taken out. The staircases are not original. Each ground floor room has a cross beam with ovolo and fillet moulding with hollow step stops with double bars, and similar half beam, add a fireplace with a wooden lintel with ovolo and fillet moulding with grooved bar hollow step stops and cavetto moulded monolithic granite jambs with notched stops. Similar but small blocked fireplaces above on first floor. From ground to first floor ceiling level a plank and muntin partition between each pair, with chamfered muntins with step stops with grooved bar. Doorways from the small unheated first floor front rooms have ovolo moulded wooden lintels with hollow step stops with grooved bar, the moulding on the front in the small front room. Roof: the original roof structure is intact. Straight principal rafters with 2 tiers of trenched purlins, V-cut for diagonal ridge-piece and high collars dovetail lap-jointed to the principals. At the rear the feet of the principals are straight and rest on the wall plate; one of the principals has lap-jointed to its foot a sort of small brace which is carried down into the wall. The front principal rafters have similar braces or spurs where they pass over the longitudinal wall and on to the front wall. These almshouses were built on, or near, the site of the medieval hospital of circa 1450. Because the hospital was not a monastic foundation it was unaffected by the Dissolution, but fell into decay later. It is possible these almshouses may incorporate some of the medieval fabric. Moretonhampstead Almshouses are famous especially for the remarkable arcaded loggia. In spite of C20 alterations the interior features are also largely complete. Historical information provided by R O Heath of the Moretonhampstead History Society.

Listing NGR: SX7555186026

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

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85057

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LBS

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