Description

ST OO NE KENTISBEARE PRIESTHILL, Kentisbeare
8/109 Priesthall(formerly listed as
- Old Priests Rouse)
24.10.51
II*
Detached house; it was the medieval rectory but already divided into 5 cottages at
the time the 1681 terrier was drawn up. Roughcast cob and rubble; some dressed
sandstone; gable-end thatched roof.
Plan: 3 room through-passage plan house, the service end to the right of the
passage. Alcock and Laithwaite deduced that the original house was single-storeyed.
The service end first floor is jettied into the hall; and the inserted hall first
floor has been removed returning it to its original form. The small room above the
passage now forms a gallery. The inner room, still of 2 storeys, is served by a
rear newel stair. Service end heated by internal end stack, hall by front lateral
external stone stack; inner room and chamber above served by external end stack.
Exterior Front: Doorway to passage with ogee-headed wooden arch (a comparative
rarity in Devon), the door itself with rails, spear-headed strap hinges, and
studded. 4-light timber window to inner room, the light each with depressed head,
and probably C15. 2-light casmement window to chamfer above. C20 3-light window to
hall. Small diagonally-set window to service end. Rear: 2 first floor windows,
one under eyebrow eave. Hall window is the original, C15, 4-lights each trefoil
headed with top lights; a later 3-light casement has been fixed over the medieval
window to afford it protection.
Interior: those features noted by Alcock and Laithwaite survive and are discussed
more fully in their article, cited below. (1) 3 plank and muntin screens, 2 to
screens passage, the first between hall and inner room; (2) service end framed
partition; (3) fireplaces; that to the hall with roll moulded surround; that to the
service end with chamfered lintel; inner room fireplace with stone roll moulded
surround, that to the chamber above with chamfered wooden lintel and chamfered stone
jambs; (4) one jointed cruck truss at lower end of passage.
References: N.W. Alcock and M. Laithwaite, 'Medieval Houses in Devon and their
Modernisation', Medieval Archiaeology, 17, (1973), 112-14; W.A. Pantin, 'Medieval
Priests' Houses in South-West England', Medieval Archaeology, 3 (1957), 127-9; E.S.
Chalk, Kentisbeare and Blackborough, Devonshire Association Parachial histories,
no. 3.

Listing NGR: ST0674908146

Selected Sources

• 'Medieval Archaeology' in Medieval Archaeology, , Vol. 3, (1957), 127-129
• 'Medieval Archaeology' in Medieval Archaeology, , Vol. 17, (1973), 112-114
• Chalk, E S, 'Devonshire Association Parochial Histories' in Kentisbeare and Blackborough, , Vol. 3, ()

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