Description

CHAGFORD LOWER STREET, (east side),
SX 7087 Chagford
6/130 Nos 3 and 5 Bishops House
-
20.2.52
GV II*

2 houses, once a single house. Early C16 with later C16 and C17 improvements,
subdivided probably in the late C19 or early C20. Plastered granite; granite stack
with plastered chimney shaft; thatch roof.
Plan and development: originally a 3-room-and-through-passage plan house set back
from the street facing north-west. No. 3 is a 2-room plan cottage occupying the
former hall and inner room to right of the passage. The hall has a large axial stack
backing onto the passage and there is a newel stair turret projecting to rear at the
upper end of the hall. No. 5 is a 1-room plan cottage occupying the former service
end room. 2-storey front porch, the upper room belonging to No. 5. It seems that
the original house was open to the roof from end to end and probably heated by an
open hearth fire. Through the later C16 and C17 the fireplace was inserted and the
rooms were progressively floored over. Porch was added in late C16-early C17. Both
cottages have C20 service outshots to rear. Main block is 2 storeys.
Exterior: 1:1:2-window front of mostly C20 iron or timber-framed casements with
glazing bars. The porch is gabled and the room over jetties forward on moulded
granite corbels resting on rubble side walls, the right one particularly thick (it
contains the hall fireplace oven housing). On the left side there is a C17 oriel
window to the first floor porch room; it has canted sides but the lights are now
blocked and it rests on shaped oak brackets. Alongside to left of the porch is a C19
plank door inserted to the service end room (No. 5). The front passage doorway
contains a similar door but it occupies the original arch-headed oak frame (showing
to rear only). The roof is gable-ended.
Good interior: both sides of the passage are stone rubble walls and the lower side
doorway has been blocked. The hall (No. 3) contains the only fireplace in the whole
house; large, probably late C16, granite ashlar with hollow-chamfered surround and
blocked side oven. At the upper end is an oak plank-and-muntin screen, probably an
original low partition. The muntins are chamfered with straight cut stops high
enough for an upper end bench and the screen contains a shoulder-headed door.
Probably in the mid C16 the inner room was floored and the chamber was jettied into
the hall and the rounded ends of the joists project over the screen. In the inner
room a trimmer shows the position of the former ladder access to the chamber. The
hall was floored in the early C17; its crossbeams are deeply chamfered with step
stops. At the same time a newel stair was provided to rear of the hall. Its oak
doorframe is ovolo-moulded, the steps are baulks of oak and there are 2 chamfered and
step-stopped doorframes from a tight landing to the first floor chambers. Most of
the doors in this part (No.3) are very old and some may be original. The service end
room (No. 5) has a plain axial beam of indeterminate date and the winder stair here
is C19. The roof overall is 4 bays. The lower end truss is a true cruck. The hall
has a side-pegged jointed cruck with a cambered collar and another has been closed
between the hall and inner room chambers. The roofspace is inaccessible but smoke-
blackened timbers and thatch are suspected.
This is a very well-preserved multi-phase house.

Listing NGR: SX7010087712

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17537309

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

• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)