Description

BOVEY TRACEY HATHERDOWN HILL
SX 87 NW

5/74 Reeves Hall and Reeves
- Coombe

- II

Pair of houses, originally one large house. C15 or early C16, remodelled late C16
or early C17; south-west wing added mid C19, minor addition C20. The earlier
house is of cob and stone covered with roughcast, the C19 wing probably of stone,
rendered and with stucco mouldings. The earlier house has a thatched roof, half-
hipped at left-hand end with hip or half-hip at right-hand end partly disguised by
C19 wing; rendered chimneystack on ashlar granite base (serving former hall) on
ridge off-centre to left, rendered stack in right-hand gable. C19 wing has slated
roof with rendered chimneystack in right-hand gable. Probably a 3-room and
through-passage plan originally, modified in late C16 or early C17 to provide a
parlour at lower end; new parlour with entrance and stair hall added at right-
angles to lower end in C19, the upper end of old house being downgraded to a barn.
Inner room (now restored to domestic use) and hall form Reeves Coombe, while Reeves
Hall has the through passage, parlour and C19 wing. 2 storeys. Old house has
irregular 5-window front looking north-west. Original front door, off-centre to
right, has chamfered wood frame with 2-centred arch on durn jambs, the whole
enclosed in a chamfered rectangular frame. Roughcast, solid-walled porch, with
half-hipped thatched roof; 2 granite steps lead up to porch, which has a cobbled
floor. 2 ground-storey windows to right of porch, 1 to left; at far left-hand end
a C20 conservatory with hipped slated roof. Except for the conservatory all
windows are wood casements with small rectangular panes; mostly C20, but the 2
ground-storey windows right of porch and the second-storey window immediately right
of it are C19. Front wall is supported by 4 large buttresses. C19 wing faces
south-west and is 2 windows wide. To left of ground storey a round-headed doorway
with plain pilasters and moulded archivolt; 4-panelled door. To right a 3-light
wooden sash window with raised surround and cornice on consoles. Moulded band-
course between storeys. Second-storey windows have wooden sashes and flanking
pilasters. In left-hand (north-west) gable a tall round-headed stair window with
wood sashes. The sashes in both fronts probably had small panes originally, but
only 1 horizontal glazing-bar per sash now survives.
Interior: hall has stack backing on to through passage; fireplace with granite
jambs and chamfered wood lintel, faced up in C20 with re-used granite gateposts and
plain wood lintel. C19 oven at rear, reduced in depth. To right of fireplace a
pair of chamfered wood door-jambs with shouldered heads, re-set and brought closer
together. At upper end a stud-and-panel screen with renewed sill and head-beams;
studs chamfered with diagonal-cut stops on hall side, plain towards former inner
room. Chamfered ceiling-beam without stops. Through-passage has stone wall to
right (in ground storey only) with probably re-set chamfered wood doorway; 2-
centred arch, durn jambs, chamfered wood lintel with straight-cut stops over, one
end buried in wall. Parlour has chamfered beam with step-stops at upper end,
Probably dating from before the room was remodelled. It has slots for halved studs
on its lower face, probably'for partitioning off a buttery or closet; plain heavy
Joists. Beam at lower end, is ogee-moulded with scroll-stops, the joists on either
side having scratch mouldings. In lower gable a fireplace with splayed granite
jambs and ogee-moulded wood lintel, the latter with stops carved as scrolls (rather
than the usual scroll-stops) smaller version of this fireplace, but with hollow-
moulded jambs, above in second storey. To right of chimney-breast a curved recess,
probably for a former hewel staircase. Roof contains 3 original trusses, over
hall, passage and upper end of parlour. These have cranked collars, butt purlins
and no ridge-pieces; the last 2 trusses are side-pegged jointed crucks, but the
feet of the hall truss are not visible. Purlins and many of common rafters
survive, together with some smoke-blackened thatching spars over the hall. The
trusses and rafters over hall and passage are blackened, suggesting that this part
of the house at least was originally single-storeyed and heated by an open hearth,
the section of old roof over the parlour seems to be clean, although there is no
sign of a former partition at the point where the timbers change colour. Above the
parlour a late C16 or early C17 truss with plain feet, halved dovetailed collar and
notched apex.

Listing NGR: SX8305678936

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26389701

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  For the Record
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6