Description

SX 6493 - 6593 SOUTH TAWTON SOUTH ZEAL

8/240 Nos 1, 2, 3, and 4 Brights
Cottages

GV II

Row of 4 cottages, mostly occupying a larger house. Mid C16 with major later C16
and C17 improvements, modernised when subdivided in the C19. Plastered walls,
probably granite stone rubble, maybe with cob; stone rubble stacks, the early ones
still with their original granite ashlar chimneyshafts; slate roof, formerly thatch.
Plan and development: row of 4 small 1- or 2-room plan cottages set back from the
road and facing north-east. They are numbered from right (No 1) to left (No 4).
Nos. 2, 3 and 4 occupy a mid C16 3-room-and-through-passage plan house. Nos. 2 and
3 share the original wide through-passage which has been divided into 2 narrow
passages. No.2 occupies the former service end room and has a C19 rear lateral
stack. No 3 occupies the former hall and has a large axial stack backing onto the
passage. No 4, at the left end, occupies the former inner room and has a gable-end
stack. Its front doorway was inserted in the C19. No 1 at the right end, is the
only 2-room plan cottage. It is probably a new cottage added when the old house was
subdivided. Its left room has an end stack backing onto No 3. The old house began
as some form of open hall house, maybe heated by an open hearth fire (the hall
roofspace is inaccessible). Hall stack was inserted in the mid or late C16 and hall
was floored in the early-mid C17. All 4 cottages are 2 storeys and have C19 and C20
service outshots to rear.
Exterior: overall 7-window front comprising a variety of C19 and C20 casements, the
older ones with glazing bars. All 4 doors are C20. Roof is gable-ended.
Interior: only Nos 3 and 4 were available for inspection at the time of this survey
but these do include most of the historic core of the building. No.3 the former
hall, has a massive granite ashlar fireplace with hollow-chamfered surround and the
inner (left) end hooded on a granite corbel. The mid C17 crossbeam is soffit-
chamfered with bar-runout stops. An oak plank-and-muntin screen is plastered over
at the upper end. The rear is exposed in No 4 and includes a blocked crank-headed
doorframe. Hall roof carried on an original large side-pegged jointed cruck truss
but the roofspace is inaccessible and therefore smoke-blackening from an open hearth
fire is suspected but not proven. No 4, the mid C17 parlour, has a granite
fireplace with replacement lintel. The crossbeam (cut through to rear by the
present staircase) is soffit-chamfered with roll stops. A late C16 - early C17 oak
rank-headed doorframe from the-main room to kitchen outshot (has this been reset?).
Roof over this cottage an A-frame with its apex cut off. No 2, at least, should
also contain C16 or C17 carpentry detail.
South Zeal is special being one of the few medieval boroughs in Devon where a
significant number of its C16 and C17 building still survive.

Listing NGR: SX6522393476

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26465140

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

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  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
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  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
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  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)