Description

WHIMPLE BROADWAY, Whimple
SY 0497-0597
10/237 Whimple Post Office
6.4.81
GV II

Post Office and post-masters house. Early - mid C16 with later C16 and C17
improvements, some C19 and C20 modernisation. Plastered cob on stone rubble
footings; stone rubble or cob stacks topped with C19 and C20 brick; thatch roof.
Plan and development: L-plan house. The main block faces west. It is built along
the street looking towards the church. It has a 4-room plan. At the left (north)
end are 2 small rooms divided by an axial wall which contains a stack serving the
rear room (now used as a kitchen). Next is the main living room, the former hall,
with an axial stack backing onto the left rooms. At the right end is an unheated
inner room, now the Post Office. A parlour projects at right angles to rear of this
end and has a disused outer lateral stack which projects very slightly.
The interior has been much altered in the late C19 and C20 and much of the
structural carpentry has been replaced or is hidden. Nevertheless the main block
appears to have had a 3-room-and-through-passage plan. The hall at least was
originally open to the roof and heated by an open hearth fire. The hall stack was
inserted in the late C16 - early C17 and the hall was floored over in the early -mid
C17. The parlour wing-was probably a late C16 - early C17 addition. The passage
and lower end was rearranged in the late C19 - early C20 and converted to the
present arrangement. House is 2 storeys with secondary outshots to rear.
Exterior: irregular 4-window front of late C19 and C20 casements, the latest
without glazing bars. The right end window is a C20 shop window with glazing bars.
The left end ground floor window is thought to be blocking the former passage front
doorway. The ground floor window right of centre is blocking another front doorway
into the former hall. Present doorway is in the right end and contains a C20 plank
door. The roof is gable-ended to left. The parlour wing roof is half-hipped to
front.
Interior: shows mostly the result of late C19 and C20 modernisations although most
of the exposed carpentry is C16 and C17. The hall crossbeam is chamfered with
scroll stops, the same finish as the oak lintel of the fireplace. No carpentry is
exposed in the parlour crosswing and the parlour firpelace is blocked. The original
end wall of the crosswing is now internal and it contains a C17 first floor oak
window with a chamfered mullion. Roof of both wings is carried on side-pegged
jointed cruck trusses and although it was not possible to investigate the roofspace
in detail smoke-blackened timbers and thatch was seen over the hall.

Listing NGR: SY0444097206

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26390286

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

• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
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  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
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  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)