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
