Description

SX 6493 - 6593 SOUTH TAWTON SOUTH ZEAL

8/238 Nos 1 and 2 Mill House

GV II*

3 cottages in a single former house. Mid C16, thoroughly refurbished in the late
C19, probably when the house was subdivided into cottages. Plastered walls incised
as ashlar probably over granite stone rubble, maybe ashlar, maybe some cob; stone
rubble stacks with plastered granite ashlar chimney shafts; slate roof, formerly
thatch.
Plan and development: 3 cottages facing north-east and built down the hillslope.
No 1 at the uphill right end is a 1-room plan cottage with a gable-end stack backing
onto the adjoining house, Moorside (q.v), No.2 in fact comprises 2 cottages; a
central 1-room plan cottage with an axial stack backing onto No 1 and, at the left
end, 2-room plan cottage with central staircase and a large projecting gable-end
stack. All the cottages have secondary rear outshots probably built in the late
C19. The late C19 refurbishments and subdivision of the property has hidden most of
the early fabric but the modernisation is believed to have been superficial. There
appears to be here a C16 3- or 4-room-and-through-passage plan house with the
service end room at the right end (No 1). The small 1-room extension in front left
is thought to have been a 2-storey porch. The hall is occupied by the central
cottage and maybe the adjoining room-of the-left cottage. Inner room is occupied by
the stair and left end room. The hall at least was probably open to the roof
originally and may have been heated by an open hearth fire. Now all 3 cottages are
2 storeys.
Exterior: irregular 3:1:1 - front of late C19 and C20 casements, the latest without
glazing bars. All 3 cottages have late C19 part-glazed panelled doors. 2-storey
gabled bay is probably a former porch. The ground floor is now enclosed but there
are said to be granite posts on the forward corners. The main roof is gable-ended.
Interior: shows mostly the result of the late C19 refurbishment. The beams are
boxed in and the fireplaces are blocked. The roof is inaccessible. However over
the central cottage (the putative hall) an arch-braced truss is exposed and others
are plastered over elsewhere. It seems very likely that the C16 house with its C17
improvements survives largely intact behind the late C19 plaster.
The cottages appear to occupy a heavily-disguised C16 house containing high quality
carpentry. South Zeal is special being one of the few medieval boroughs in Devon to
which a large number of early houses survive.

Listing NGR: SX6514093533

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17537587

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

• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair