Olde Corte House (No. 67) and former barn (No. 69), Plymstock, City of Plymouth

Summary

Former court house (No. 67) largely C17 with C16 origins, with an attached former C18 barn (No. 69). The two single-storey outbuildings within the grounds of No. 69 and the C20 conservatory attached to the front of No. 67 are not of special interest and are excluded from the list entry.

Description

MATERIALS: Olde Corte House is rendered rubble stone with steep dry-slate roofs and a large rubble lateral stack at the rear; the Former Barn is rubble stone with a slate roof.

PLAN: Olde Corte House has a single depth plan on a north-to-south axis, with a right-angle wing on the east side. The Former Barn is attached at the south and runs on the same line.

EXTERIOR: Olde Corte House is a three-storey building. The entrance porch is off-centre. There is a large C20 conservatory to the left (not included in the listing). The first floor contains three C20 casement windows: a central 24-pane three-light bowed window and two 20-pane two-light casement windows on either side. The second floor has one central 12-pane window with thick glazing bars. The road side elevation has a first-floor six-over-six sash. To the rear is a projecting two-storey gable-end wing with horned-sash windows. Under the gable is a date plaque reading 1904 and a ‘B’ topped by a crown to represent the Earl of Bedford's estate. The south end has a single-storey utility wing and the gable-end above is slate hung.

The two-storey Former Barn is built into a bank. The main (west) elevation has two ground-floor brick-arched doors and a window, as well as a pair of full-height windows in a former rectangular opening. The first floor contains a large central opening topped by stone voussoirs. The west side is built into the bank and has a large central window on the first floor. The north and south ends contain further openings. All of the doors and windows were replaced in the early C21.

INTERIOR: Old Corte House's central dog leg staircase has plain stick balustrades to the ground floor and decorated newel post and balustrades on the first floor. At the north end of the ground floor is the main room including large chamfered ceiling beams with deep stop ends. Originally carried at either end by large granite corbels, most of those in the western wall have been removed. A late C20 stone surround has been placed over the fireplace in the eastern wall. Above is a deep recessed cupboard topped by a chamfered granite arch. To the right is a recessed window. A modern conservatory is attached to the west side of the room. Within the rear wing is a C20 panelled room. The south end of the house has a modern kitchen and utility rooms. On the first floor, at the north end, is a room with dado panelling, arched alcoves flanking a tiled fireplace, and an early C18 panelled door. A further staircase leads up to the third floor which contains a number of early plank doors with strap hinges. The collar-truss roof retains C17 adzed principal trusses, as well as the remains of an earlier smoke-blackened truss with a curved-and-chamfered collar.

The interior of the Former Barn was wholly converted in the C21 to living accommodation on two levels*. As part of the conversion the principal C19 king-post trusses with metal fixings were retained and reused.

* Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that all the early C21 internal partitions, fixtures and fittings within No. 69 (former barn) do not contribute to the special architectural or historic interest.
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History

The first documentary evidence of a court building on this site is a deed of 1305. A survey of 1586, undertaken to document all the sessions of Edward the Earl of Bedford, describes a Corte House, noting that it was registered with two adjacent enclosures of five acres. In this building the lord of the manor’s courts were held. The chairman would have been the lord or his steward. An Olde Survey Booke (1690) notes a great hall and dining room, both used on court days. Most of the earliest timbers that survive within the building suggest the structure is C17; however, there is evidence of potentially earlier fabric. There are references in the C17 to the building tenancy. The courthouse is shown on the Plymstock Manor Plan (1755). It depicts the main house, a building in the location of the former barn and a structure in the south-west corner of the plot. By 1842 the Court House was in use as a main house for a 55-acre farm. The Ordnance Survey First Edition Map (1894) shows Court Farm with a group of buildings with the main house to the north, and attached barn and two parallel outbuildings to the south-west. In 1904 a wing was added to the east of the main house. In 1911 an number of lots on the Duke of Bedford's Estate were sold including Court House Farm which comprised of 86 acres. The sales particulars state the farm house consisted of a parlour, dairy, kitchen and domestic offices on the ground floor, a sitting room and two bedrooms on the first floor and four bedrooms on the second floor. It also notes that the houses had recently been remodelled, possibly referring to the new east wing. There is also a catalogue of associated farm buildings, all stone and slate, including two shippens, a root house with barn, pigsties, stable, open shed, cart linhay and trap house. The attached former barn was used in the late C20 as a show room, at which time various alterations were made internally and externally. In the early C21 the barn and outbuilding were sold into separate ownership and the barn converted to domestic use, becoming No. 69 Dunstone Road. In 2012 the Olde Corte House roof was repaired and re-clad in slate.

Reasons for Listing

Olde Corte House, No. 67, a circa C17 former court house, and its former associated barn, No. 69 Dunstone Road, Plymouth are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Historic interest: No. 67 retains a good level of C17 and C18 fabric, as well as evidence of earlier smoke-blackened roof timbers;
*Architectural interest: No. 67 has high quality external and internal historic fabric, including substantial roof timbers, various phases of windows and a largely intact C18 panelled room; No. 69, the former barn has retained its historic agricultural character and adds interest to the main house;
* Level of intactness: the various phases of the building’s evolution, including the extensions and successive decorative schemes, are clearly legible in the surviving fabric;
* Group value: standing at the historic centre of Plymstock, they have strong group value with the Church of St Mary and All Saints (listed Grade II*) and No. 74 Dunstone Road (listed Grade II).

External Links

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