Description

1540/0/10010
29-OCT-01

EXBOURNE
Lower Narracott Cottage

II

House, formerly a farmhouse. Circa late C15; remodelled C17. Plastered cob. Thatched roof, clad in corrugated-iron sheets. Stone rubble axial stack with brick shaft.
PLAN: 2-room and through-passage plan facing south, the lower end to the left [W]; originally open to the roof from end-to-end and heated by an open hearth fire and probably divided by low partitions. In about the C17 the house had floors inserted and an axial stack was built at the low end of the hall backing onto the through-passage. The unheated low end of the house was later divided axially forming two service rooms. In the C18 or early in the C19 a large outbuilding was built onto the lower left [W] end.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 3-window south front with small C19 2-light casements without glazing bars and doorway to left of centre with plank door. Rear [N] doorway to right of centre with altered original doorframe, C20 porch and window to left and right. Outbuilding at west end, plastered cob and stone rubble walls and slate hipped roof.
INTERIOR: Remains of plank-and-muntin screen and had beam on low side of passage with arched doorframe and similar arched doorframe on opposite side of passage. Unheated low end room has chamfered cross-beam and later axial partition. Hall fireplace has roughly chamfered timber bressumer with hollow step stop at one end; C20 arched fireplace built into earlier fireplace. Inserted hall floor supported on roughly hewn closely-spaced joists, the ends carried on beam against end wall which is supported on timber post. The head of the hall's front window is above inserted floor level and has splayed reveals and curved infilling at base; similar at rear of hall. Straight staircase at back of hall with C18 plank side. Chambers ceiled, but trusses visible; side-pegged jointed cruck truss over hall, cruck truss with mutilated blade and straight principals set on wall-plate at low end. The roof structure has threaded purlins, a diagonally-set ridgepiece, a small hip-cruck at the low end and thatching battens, all smoke-blackened. The original thatch, at least over the low end, is not blackened. Plank doors. The outbuilding has a C19 4-bay roof with tie-beam trusses and a stone set floor.
Lower Narracott is a good example of a small late Medieval Devon house, originally open to the roof from end to end and heated by an open hearth fire.

Listing NGR: SS6030603096

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26538636

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)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)