Description

CHAGFORD HIGH STREET, (south side),
SX 7087 Chagford
6/117 Church Stile Cottage
20.2.52

- II

Cottage, once part of a larger house. C16 core, much altered in late C17 probably
when original house divided into cottages. Plastered granite with cob and timber
framing above first floor level in rear block; granite stack with granite ashlar
chimney shaft; thatch roof.
Plan and development: 1-room wide, 2-room deep plan cottage set back a little and
facing onto High Street to the north-east. The larger front room parlour has an
axial stack on the right (north-west) side backing onto a wide passage leading to a
row of cottages behind. The chamber over the passage belongs to this cottage. The
present stairs are early C20 but there is a disused newel stair turret which
originally projected to rear of the main room behind the stack. Small rear service
room is secondary and unheated. It seems most likely that the main front room was
originally the hall of a C16 3-room-and-through-passage plan house built along the
street. In the late C17 the house was subdivided into 3 cottages. The inner room
to left was later redeveloped as part of the site of the Globe Inn (q.v.), the
passage was thrown open to give access to more cottages built in the rear of the
property and the service end room was developed as Whiddons Coffee Shop (q.v.).
Cottage is 2 storeys.
Exterior: irregular 2-window front of casements of various sizes and different
dates, all containing rectangular panes of leaded glass. The oldest is the chamber
window over the passage which is probably late C17 and contains tiny panes of
ancient glass. Cottage doorway to right of main room has a plain oak frame and
contains an old (possibly late C17) studded plank door hung on strap hinges with
fleur-de-lys finials. It lies behind a stone rubble porch with gabled slate-roofed
porch which has stone benches each side. This too could be as old as the late C17.
The roof runs across the front abutting the adjoining properties. The roof of the
rear block is at right angles and runs continuously with that of the cottage behind.
Interior: the oldest feature is the large C16 granite ashlar fireplace with a
hollow-chamfered surround. It includes a side oven. The back of the fireplace is
exposed in the passage; granite ashlar with a chamfered plinth and cornice and
also, near the front, a large moulded corbel of unknown function. The carpentry
detail is all late C17. The main room has a soffit-chamfered crossbeam. The 3-bay
roof above is inaccessible but the scantling of the feet of the A-frame trusses
suggest that the roof too is late C17.

Listing NGR: SX7009287477

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26400065

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

• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)