Description

BICKINGTON BICKINGTON
SX 77 SE
7/25 Church Cottage
-
GV II

House. Late C16 or C17; north end rebuilt C20 and kitchen added at north end of
east side. Roughcast exterior over limestone rubble ground storey and cob upper
storey. Asbestos-slated roof, hipped at north end. Large old chimneystacks, with
tapered tops and thatch weatherings, on south gable and on centre of ridge; a C20
stack on ridge a little way north of centre. Until its conversion to a single house
in late C20 the building comprised a pair of cottages at right-angles to the road
and a barn (now rebuilt) at the north end. The cottages probably originated as a
house of 2-room plan with centre doorway (now converted to a window) and gable-
stacks, although it is possible that the original entrance was through the gable
fronting the road. 2 storeys. Main, west, front is 5 windows wide, the 2 left-
hand windows belonging to the rebuilt barn. This has C20 wood casements with
leaded panes and a C20 door with lean-to porch. The older part of the house has 3
C19 windows to right of ground storey. Middle window is a 2-light wood casement
with 6 panes per light; small outer windows are of 1 light, the right-hand window
with 4 panes. Above them is a C20 canopy with pent roof. In second storey are 3
C19 wood casement windows, the centre one of 2 lights, the outer ones of 3 lights;
the left-hand window has C20 leaded panes, but the other 2 have 3 panes of mostly
old glass in each light. South gable, fronting road, has doorway to left and
rectangular oven projection to right. To left of doorway is a solid wall with
built-in seat, forming a porch next to the oven; porch and oven share a slated
pent roof partly covered with cement. Above doorway is a 2-light C19 casement
window with 2 panes per light. The east wall, as far as the added kitchen, has
only 1 window; this is in ground storey, a 4-pane sash, hinged at the top.
Interior: each of the 2 south ground-storey rooms has a gable fireplace with
chamfered wood lintel, that on the north having small scroll-stops. Both
fireplaces have stone-lined ovens at the back, the openings having stone surrounds.
The upper floor is carried on heavy joists, most of them lightly chamfered, running
from the east to the west wall. The partition between the 2 rooms never seems to
have consisted of more than rough studs nailed to one of the joists, presumably
with lath and plaster fixed to each side. The west wall of the southern room has
been rebuilt for most of its length, apparently replacing a long window which
itself appears to have been a later insertion. Old roof-trusses survive under a
C20 roof-structure; strusses are probably C18 or early C19 with plain feet resting
on the wall-tops and collars pegged to the faces of the principal rafters.
The house is not known to have been church property. The 1841 tithe map and
schedule show it as owned by Charles Wills (Devon Record Office).

Listing NGR: SX7995472668

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26389421

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

• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)