Description

BOVEY TRACEY STATION ROAD, Bovey Tracey
SX 8178

11/89 Pludda Thatch and Little Reeds
-

- II

Pair of cottages, probably a farmhouse originally. C16, or possibly late medieval,
with C20 addition at rear of Pludda Thatch. Solid roughcast walls of stone or cob.
Thatched roof, half-hipped at left-hand end. Each cottage has a large projecting
chimneystack in rear wall with later shaft on top, each stack having an added shaft.
The Pludda Thatch stack also has a tapered top, disguised by later additions, with a
projecting course of stone below it. At north-east corner of Pludda Thatch a small
C19 or C20 rendered stack. Original plan is not clear, but Little Reeds (to right)
probably has the former hall and inner room; this cottage now has 2 heated rooms in
ground storey with a straight flight of stairs between them. 2 storeys. Front is 5
windows wide, all except the right-hand ground-storey window (altered in C20) having
C19 or early C20 wood casements with small panes. Pludda Thatch has its doorway in
third bay from left; old plank door with inserted window, porch with thin rendered
walls (probably of brick) and thatched lean-to roof. To right of it in each storey
2 windows, irregularly placed, each of 2 lights with 6 panes per light. Above it a
2-light window with 3 panes per light, rising into the thatch. To right of it in
ground storey 2 windows of 2 lights with 6 panes per light; between the windows is
a large buttress with splayed top. The front doorway of Little Reeds is in the
second bay from the right and has an old plank door with inserted window. In the
second storey the right-hand window is of 2 lights with 3 panes per light; the
second window from right is of 4 lights, also with 3 panes per light. The right-
hand gable has 3 C19 or early C20 wood casements, each of 2 lights with 2 panes per
light; 2 are in second storey, 1 off-centre to right of ground storey. A smaller
window, probably of C20, in centre of ground storey. At right-hand end an old plank
door with inserted window; glazed lean-to porch, probably of C19, with corrugated
asbestos roof. Rear windows of both cottages are C19 or early C20 wood casements
with small panes.
Interior of Little Reeds has large granite fireplace in rear wall of left-hand room;
this is hollow-moulded with very worn pyramid stops and has a flat lintel made of a
single piece of stone. Rectangular stone opening at back, formerly serving an oven.
The 2 cottages have a complete, common roof, which appears to be smoke-blackened,
although the thatch has been renewed. The trusses have threaded purlins and ridge-
piece, the purlins chamfered with run-out stops. Collars have mostly been removed,
but 1 truss retains a cranked collar. The foot of 1 principal rafter is partly
exposed, showing the edge of a jointed cruck. To right of the staircase is a closed
truss with wattle-and-daub infill in position.
Interior of Pludda Thatch not inspected.

Listing NGR: SX8118078174

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26389675

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

• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)