Description

SX 69 SE SOUTH TAWTON

4/147 Cowhouse approximately 3
metres east of Goose ford Farmhouse

GV II

Cowhouse, former farmhouse. Dated 1641 and all features are consistent with this
date, partly rebuilt when converted from a farmhouse to a cowhouse circa 1900.
Granite stone rubble with large roughly-dressed quoins and sections of large coursed
blocks of granite ashlar. Disused granite stack; corrugated iron roof, formerly
thatch.
Plan: 3-room plan house built across the hillslope facing south. The internal
arrangement has been much-altered and a much longer study of the fabric than was
possibe for this survey is needed to discover the layout in detail. The right end
room has an end stack. It is thought that an axial stack served the other rooms but
no evidence of it remains. 2 storeys.
Exterior: irregular 3-window front, the windows are blocked. Ground floor right
window has been enlarged to a doorway. A plaque inscribed Anno Do 1641 flanked by
labels inscribed OL has been reset high in the wall right of centre. Roof is hipped
both ends. The rear elevation has been similarly rearranged. Central doorway here
has been rebuilt. Above it is the only original window left, an oak 3-light window
with ovolo-moulded mullions. A second door to right contains an oak C17 doorframe
with ovolo-moulded surround has been reset facing inwards.
Interior: has plain chamfered crossbeams. The fireplace has a similarly-finished
oak lintel. 7-bay roof of A-frame trusses with pegged lap-jointed collars.
Lega-Weekes who saw the house in 1896 before its conversion describes "a gabled
porch with a pointed entrance-arch of moulded granite, retaining a very heavy oak
door, studded with monster nails, above which was a table dated 1641 and a mullioned
window, on whose dripstone-corbels appeared the letters CL".
Source: E Lega-Weekes, Neighbours of North Wyke, Park I Trans. Devon. Assoc. 33
(1901), pp 447 - 448.

Listing NGR: SX6756891722

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26399957

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

• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)