Description

DARTMOUTH

SX874510 DUKE STREET
673-1/8/108 (North side)
14/09/49 No.6
The Butterwalk

GV I

One of a row of merchants' houses, now a shop and the
Dartmouth Museum, with accommodation above. The row is dated
1635 and 1640, some later C17 improvements, various minor
later alterations and a major renovation programme in the
1950s after severe bomb blast damage in 1943; David Nye and
Partners of Westminster, London (architect), PW Wilkins and
Sons Ltd. of Torquay (builders). Mixed construction; stone
side and back walls, front is an ornate display of
timber-framing with slate-hung upper floor, and the walk
carried on granite piers; stone rubble stacks with C20
rendered brick chimneyshafts to front and rear of right party
wall; slate roof.
PLAN: Built end onto the street, the ground plan is one room
wide and 2 rooms deep with side passage along the right
(eastern) side. No fireplace to front ground-floor room,
because this was a shop. Newel stair in alcove in right party
wall rises in centre of first floor where there was a small
unheated room between the front and back rooms. Now there is a
corridor to the first floor of No.8 (qv).
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys and attic; 3-window range. Ornate jettied
timber-framed front forming part of a unified front comprising
Nos 6-12 (even) (qv), the houses of the Dartmouth Butterwalk.
The first floor oversails the Butterwalk and is supported on a
carved bressummer on an arcade of granite piers with moulded
capitals under blocks carved with geometric and heraldic
motifs, one of them dated 1640. Recessed shop front is mid
C20. First floor of exposed timber-framing. Central plastered
section rebuilt and contains three C20 horned 12-pane sashes
(another 3 on the second floor and one to each floor on
right-hand return). Original small-panel framing each side,
the faces of the original timbers carved with strapwork
patterns and guilloche. End posts (on party walls) carved as
pairs of Ionic pilasters on pedestals under carved brackets
supporting the second-floor jetty, but at right end there is
now a single pilaster and no bracket. Jetty has carved fascia.
Slate-hung above. Original gable demolished but present timber
eaves cornice, carved with a kind of bead-and-reel, is
probably original frieze-board.
Gabled rear elevation is plastered and is mostly original;
painted masonry under slate-hung gable contains various C20
windows with glazing bars. The first-floor oriel is supported
by reused C17 brackets carved as griffin-like creatures.
INTERIOR: Exceptionally high quality and well-preserved.
Original features include the newel stair which rises round a
pine mast-like post, pine ovolo-moulded plank-and-muntin
screens, small-field panelling, ornamental plaster ceilings of
single and hollow rib designs, etc. The small closet on the
first-floor landing with its grille of tiny turned posts may
be secondary. Front parlour with overmantel featuring the arms
of Charles II, who was entertained here in 1671. Rest of this
room lined with original panelling except on the front where
there is late C17/early C18 large-field panelling associated
with the demolition of the original front oriel window and its
replacement by the present 3-window arrangement. Rear parlour
has introduced panelling. It also includes a curious small
stone window in a curving alcove which appears to have served
a second stair. Other C17 features are probably hidden. Upper
floors and roof not inspected.
HISTORY: This house forms a unit of the Dartmouth Butterwalk,
which is one of the finest rows of merchants' houses dating
from the first half of the C17 in England. The Butterwalk was
built on reclaimed land as part of the same scheme which
created the New Quay. The western half was leased to William
Gurney in 1628, the eastern half was leased to Mark Hawkings.
Both began to build, but in 1635 William Gurney sold his part
to Hawkings who completed the row by 1640 at a cost of nearly
»2500. The row originally continued one house further east;
the Butterwalk arcade was of 13 granite piers and is now of
11. Backed onto river when originally built.
(Freeman, Ray: Dartmouth and its Neighbours: Phillimore:
1990-: P.80-83; Devon Buildings: Laithwaite, Michael: Town
Houses up to 1660: Devon Books: 1990-: P.113-5).

Listing NGR: SX8778851411

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17527077

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

• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Old House Care and Repair