Ring of Bells Inn and attached former stables, North Bovey, Devon

Summary

Public house and restaurant, formerly a farmhouse and stables. C17 with C15 and C16 fabric; later alterations including restoration after a fire in 2016. The former stables are probably late-C18 / early-C19, with a C20 extension to the north.

Description

RING OF BELLS INN

MATERIALS: granite rubble with C21 cob blocks above, lime rendered; thatched roof on C21 oak trusses; rendered stone stacks. Where external and internal features were reinstated following the 2016 fire, they have been reproduced with the same materials and to the same pattern.

PLAN: four-room cross-passage plan with a roughly-central entrance. On the east elevation there is an external semi-circular newel stair from the north end of the hall and a newel stair to the north of the cross passage. There is also a C20 extension on the east side.

EXTERIOR: the pub is two storeys with a thatched pitched roof with axial and end stacks, and an asymmetrical four-window front (west) elevation. To the left of the roughly-central entrance are three three-light casements: two on the first floor, and one on the ground floor which is restored C19. Immediately to the right of the entrance are six-over-six sash windows to the first floor (restored late-C18) and ground floor; a further three-light casement on the first floor and a two-light offset casement below. The porch has a pitched roof which is slate covered with terracotta ridge tiles; its granite front is un-rendered and inside there are slate seats either side. The C17 oak entrance door is wide with later mouldings added. To the rear (east) elevation there is a thatched semi-circular stair projection to the right of the centre with a very small window. Immediately to its left is an outshut with thatched roof. To the left again is a C20 extension housing the kitchens. The south elevation has a single window at first-floor level. Windows are C21 replacements unless stated.

INTERIOR: the building is entered on its west side into the cross passage; the opposite door (containing salvaged C18 fabric and within a C18 oak doorframe) leads into a C20 extension. To the south is the former lower room (or kitchen) and a ‘small room’; to the north of the cross passage is the former hall, with the inner room (parlour) to the north again.

The porch leads to a C21 oak and glass screen and door into the cross passage. On its north side, the cross passage has exposed granite rubble walls with some very large blocks at its base. The south wall is a C21 pegged-oak screen, and the ceiling is a C21 replacement with boards on joists, located and dimensioned by the discovery of the historic pockets in the north wall.

To the south of the cross passage is the small room and lower room (now a restaurant). The lower room has a fireplace at the south end with a granite-voussoir arched lintel. It contains a very large stone bread-oven on its right-hand side with an arched stone opening; there is a smaller cloam oven on the rear wall of the fireplace. There is a large cross-beam which retains evidence from the fire but has largely been retained with new timber scarfed into the ends. Some earlier ceiling joists also remain, although the majority and the planked ceiling are C21 replacements. The small room is now part of the lower room with a C21 open pegged-timber partition marking the position of a C17 or C18 oak-stud partition; there is also a step up from the lower to small room which is laid with ‘Candy’ bricks. The floor is otherwise carpeted. On the west side of the small room is a blocked fireplace and there is a blocked doorway on the east side.

The doorframe to the hall (north) is oak and contains a four-panel planked oak door with decorated wrought-iron strap hinges on the outer face, and hand-wrought slim strap hinges on the inner. The hall (now a snug) is three-bays long, with an oak half-beam against either end wall and an oak central cross-beam, all chamfered with hollow stops and dating to the C17. The fireplace is at the south end of the room and has a chamfered oak-lintel with convex stops, a large granite jamb to the left and a cloam oven inside to the right. Leading to an outshut on the east side of the hall is a square-headed C17 timber doorframe chamfered with mason’s mitres and jewelled and notch stops to the jambs; the right jamb is a C21 recreation. To its right is a ledge-and-brace door to a newel staircase with boarded winder treads; all are C21 reconstructions in softwood. To the left of the C17 door is a blocked window with an oak C18 architrave, and to the left again a C21 ledge-and-brace door to the semi-circular newel staircase which has concrete treads. Built into the north wall of the hall is a late-C18 grandfather clock by Joshua (Jos.) Lang of Moretonhampstead with an oak case and brass face. To the right of this is an internal window (formerly a door), and to the right again is a late-C15 or early-C16 timber pointed-arch doorframe, chamfered with no stops. There is a C21 timber half-partition on the east side of the hall, replicating a former full-height partition wall but allowing the entire space to be read.

The inner room (now a bar) contains cross beams similar to those in the hall with a C21 lath and plaster ceiling. There is a blocked window on the east side, and an open characterful doorway with an oak lintel leads to the C21 link to the west and on to the former stables, now a restaurant.

Throughout the ground floor some of the early beams have C21 scarfed oak at their ends, with recreated stops where appropriate. Most of the ceiling structure was replaced in the C21 following the fire, using salvaged material were possible. The floor is laid with ‘Candy’ bricks unless stated. Plaster finishes are all C21. C18 and C19 window cills and seats have been repaired where possible.

The majority of the first floor has been replaced after it was destroyed by fire, although the partitions have been replaced at historically-likely positions.

FORMER STABLES

MATERIALS: random granite rubble, rendered; thatched roof.

PLAN: rectangular in plan and joined to the Ring of Bells by a link block. C20 flat-roofed extension to rear.

EXTERIOR: the building is two storeys (originally one storey with a loft) with a symmetrical front with C21 timber three-pane casements either side of a central door. The windows have arched brick heads and surrounds. On the first floor are two C20 dormer eyebrow windows with C21 six-pane casements. The link block to the east has a slate catslide roof and C21 timber door and window.

INTERIOR: the ground floor is six bays east to west and is one open space. The bays are defined by large cross beams, some clearly utilising earlier material and one retaining part of its branch structure. The north and south walls are painted rubble stone; that to the west has C21 boarding, and to the east is plastered with an open doorway to the link. On the north side an inserted doorway leads to the WCs which are in a C20 extension, also containing the cellar. It is understood that the first floor has been refurbished and contains en-suite bedrooms as part of the pub’s accommodation. All finishes, doors and windows are C21.

History

North Bovey is located within the valley of the River Bovey, a farming landscape on the eastern fringe of Dartmoor. It is likely that the village began to take shape in the mid to late-C15, with farmhouses and cottages loosely ranged around a village green. A small number of C15 and C16 buildings survive in the village; the Tithe map suggests that there may have been more, but these were gone by the end of the C19. The survivors are grouped around the southern end of the green and include Gate House, Chancery Cottage, and the Ring of Bells Inn.

The Ring of Bells Inn is set back from the south-east corner of the green; it faces south-west onto a yard and is aligned roughly north-west to south-east (the principal compass points are used in this description). It has been suggested but unevidenced that the original building on the site was a cider house for stonemasons working on the church or farm labourers. However, the present building is thought to be a C17 farmhouse which retains its three-room cross-passage plan from an earlier building and C15 and C16 features, with extensions and alterations in the subsequent centuries including the raising of the first floor with cob on rubblestone walls. Following a major fire in January 2016 investigations were able to reveal more about the building’s early history (see Cox & Thorpe, in Sources). A room off the north side of the cross passage was the hall with a large fireplace at the south end in an axial stack backing on to the cross passage; structural evidence dates it to the mid/late-C16. On the east wall of the hall a mid-C17 chamfered doorframe leads to an outshut; this elaborate frame suggests that this was a buttery for storage of butts or barrels of cider, the production and consumption of which was common in mid-C17 farmsteads. A newel stair turret on the east side probably led to the chamber above the inner room to the north. Evidence also revealed following the fire suggests that the inner room may have been a late-C18 or early-C19 rebuilding; that the roof and its timbers were replaced at this time; and the lower room was also an extension constructed as a bakehouse or kitchen in the later C17. The roof comprised 20 oak truss blades, but these was almost completely destroyed by the fire.

The first map to show the building is the 1839 Tithe map where it is described as a house, garden and yard. The apportionment names it as Gate House, the landowner being the Earl of Devon and the occupier William Colridge; he was also recorded as a publican on the 1841 Census. The building today known as Gate House - to the south and listed at Grade II* - is unnamed in the apportionment; it is likely that the name applied to both structures as they had common access, with the Ring of Bells Inn building being an expansion of or replacement for the earlier C14 Gate House.

On the first edition Ordnance Survey (OS) map of 1886 the building is marked as the Ring of Bells public house. Trade directories from 1844 to 1919 show that the Colridge family were publicans between those dates, including Miss Eliza Colridge for at least 34 years. A photograph from 1894 shows a rendered building with a thatched roof; axial, lateral and end stacks; many-paned casement windows including a vertical-sliding sash; and a front porch with the pub’s licencing board above the entrance. A well-dressed group of people outside are accompanied by a horse unharnessed from its carriage, with the horse standing near to a building to the west of the pub. This building was probably the associated stables and the photograph appears to show that it is of random granite construction; it probably dates to the late-C18 or early-C19. The space between the two buildings was possibly a cart linhay. The stables were converted into a bar in 1967 when a porch (since removed) and eyebrow dormer windows were added. The Brackenbury family were publicans (and horse jockeys and trainers) from after the Second World War until around 1970.

Photographs from the late-C20 show that the lateral stack had been removed at some point; its appearance was otherwise much the same as in the late-C19. In January 2016 the pub was devastated by fire which destroyed almost the whole roof structure and first-floor walls, and seriously damaged the lower room and hall. Recording and analysis allowed for a sensitive conservation-led restoration of the pub, reusing as much historic fabric as possible and improving detailing where evidence was available. It remains in use as a public house with rooms today, with the former stables (unaffected by the fire) providing additional accommodation and restaurant space. A link block between the two was slightly altered as part of the restoration work.

Reasons for Listing

The Ring of Bells Inn, largely dating to the C17, with C15 and C16 fabric and restored after a fire in 2016, and the former stables dating to the late-C18 or early-C19, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* despite losses in a severe fire in 2016, the building retains a good proportion of early fabric, and its three-room cross-passage plan can still be read;
* for the survival of internal features including a late-C15 or early-C16 timber pointed-arch doorframe and late-C18 built-in grandfather clock;
* vernacular building traditions have been respected in the C21 restoration work, which has been completed to a very high standard;
* the former stables retain their form and fabric, including roughly-hewn cross beams on the ground floor.

Historic interest:

* as a good example of an evolved moorland building originating as a farmhouse and developing as a public house with stables from the early-C19;
* as a C21 example of informed conservation.

Group value:

* with other Grade II listed buildings which cluster around the south-east corner of the village green, and the neighbouring Grade II*-listed Gate House.

External Links

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