Description

CREDITON

SX8399 FORDTON
672-1/4/182 Fordton Cottage
19/03/51

II

Small gentry house. Circa 1730s origins, remodelled in a
Gothick manner in the circa 1820s. Brick, stuccoed on the
front, roughcast on the rear; thatched roof, gabled at ends;
brick stacks with banded brick shafts.
Plan: Double depth plan, 2 rooms wide with a central entrance
into a passage containing the stair. 2-storey rear service
lean-to to the rear.Rear addition to the lean-to includes a
back kitchen.Former stable adjoining at right end has been
absorbed into the house.
Exterior: 2 storeys. Symmetrical 3-bay front with a gable to
the front in the centre. Central C19 half-glazed front door
with a hoodmould and label stops. All windows also have
hoodmoulds and label stops. High-transomed French windows to
left and right with glazing bars and margin panes. Similar
smaller casements to left and right on first floor, smaller
centre window with a 2-light casement with glazing bars. The
gable has a blind lozenge-shaped window with a central
quatrefoil and a V-shaped hoodmould with label stops. Former
stable block to right has a slate hipped roof and dormer
window. The left return has a blind lozenge in the gable and a
2-light high-transomed casement below with glazing bars and
margin panes. The thatch is carried down as a catslide to the
rear service lean-to.
Interior: Early C18 features include several 2-panel doors on
the first floor, most with HL hinges and a timber first floor
chimney-piece. Early C19 joinery includes panelled doors on
the ground floor and a plaster cornice; stick baluster stair
with mahogany newels and a ramped mahogany handrail.
Photographs in the possession of the owner show that the
present window embrasures on the front have been reduced in
width; the earlier ones probably contained sashes. The Gothick
programme may have been carried out for Mr Thomas Pring, the
Clerk of the Peace for Devon, who purchased the house in 1829.
Pring was succeeded by Mr Francis Drake, a London lawyer who
had been born in the parish.
(Pope, W.: Glimpses of the Past in and around Crediton: 1927-:
21).

Listing NGR: SX8397499101

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26491602

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

• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)