Description

HALBERTON LOWER TOWN, Halberton
ST 01 SW
2/199 Nos. 1 & 3 (Old Cordwents and
- Cordwents Cottage)
- II*
Pair of cottages. C15 or early C16 with later alterations. Roughcast cob, stone
footings, with some stone. Gabled-end thatched roof. Formerly a 3-room, through-
passage plan house open to the roof, the higher end to the left of the passage.
Front internal lateral stack, stone with brick shaft dated 1837, heats hall;
external end stack (now emerging from later lean-to) heats lower end. The inner
room unheated. 2 storeys.
Front: irregular fenestration; all windows with C19 or C20 casements; five 2- and 3-
light windows to first floor, 4 of them under eyebrow eaves, one (of 3-lights) with
8 leaded panes per light. One single light window, and four 2-lights to ground
floor. 2 doors, one to the former passage (which is now divided by a party wall
between nos. 1 and 3), the other inserted later. Lower end lean-to with (re-used)
3-light window with ovolo-moulded mullions and double-ovolo-moulded frame.
Rear: C19 and C20 casement windows, all of 2-lights. The building continues along
the same axis at the higher end in the form of a now-converted linhay with tallet,
weatherboarded to rear, and with one inserted window to the front.
Interior: a detailed description of the interior features of this building by N W
Alcock and C Hulland and a further discussion by Alcock and M Laithwaite are in
print. The jointed arches, stud and panel screens (2 to the through-passage and one
between hall and parlour) fireplaces and beams as described there, all remain in
situ. The roof space is still inaccessible. Nos. 1 and 3 Lower Town forms a good
example of a medieval house with low screens, that underwent modernisation in the
form of floor and stack insertion in circa 1550.
References: N W Alcock and C Hulland "Devonshire Farm Houses, part IV", Trans
Devonshire Association, 104 (1972), 49-53, with plan and-sections of cross-passage
screens; N W Alcock and M Laithwaite, "Medieval Houses in Devon and their
Modernisation", Medieval Archaeology, 17 (1973), 111
Note: this building was a Grade III listing and known as Cordwents Farmhouse; this
name now applies to a C20 dwelling which is not listed.

Listing NGR: ST0042712780

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17548086

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

• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments