Description

KENN KENN
SX 98 NW

2/177 Magpie Cottage and Wisteria Cottage

GV II

House divided into 2. Late medieval origins, probably remodelled in the C17.
Whitewashed rendered stone ; thatched roof, gabled at ends ; left end stack, axial
stack, projecting right end stack, all with brick shafts.
Plan: A late medieval open hall house in origin ; the extent of the open hall is not
entirely clear but a thick wall and hip cruck to the left (higher end) of the present
hall suggests that the medieval house may have been 2 rooms wide (lower end to the
right), although smoke blackened thatch is said to extend the full length of the 2
higher end rooms (information from thatcher). The house was probably floored in the
C17, with the hall stack backing on to a cross passage ; the lower end (Wisteria
Cottage) has been divided off as a separate cottage. The floor levels of the house
are odd ; the ground floor of Magpie Cottage is raised high above the ground and
there is a cellar below the cross passage. Rear lean-to to Magpie Cottage.
Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 5 window front, the eaves thatch eyebrowed over
the 3 left-hand windows. Flight of stone steps up to C20 front door to cross passage
(Magpie Cottage) ; front door to left of Wisteria Cottage. 2- and 3-light timber
casement windows, C19 or early C20, with small panes except the first floor windows
to Magpie Cottage which are C20 timber casements with glazing bars. 2 ground floor
windows left have shutters C20 first floor addition to the rear of Wisteria cottage.
Interior: Magpie Cottage only inspected. The ashlar stone back of the hall stack is
exposed in the passage with a stone cornice (a typical feature of medieval houses in
the Teign Valley). The hall fireplace has granite jambs and a chamfered step-stopped
lintel ; chamfered crossbeams. The left-hand room has a chamfered axial beam and a
stair against the rear wall.
Roof: No access to apex at time of survey but hip crucks survive both at the left end
of the house and against the crosswall between the 2 rooms. There is also a
plastered-over jointed cruck. Smoke-blackened thatch and a sooted rafter were
visible at time of survey while the house was being rethatched and the thatcher
reported the discovery of a smoke hole, undamaged during re-thatching.
A traditional house of medieval origins.

Listing NGR: SX9196485476

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26618631

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

• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living