Summary

Former open-hall house probably built in the late C16 or early C17; remodelled and re-fronted in the C19. Later alterations.

Description

Former open-hall house probably built in the late C16 or early C17; remodelled and re-fronted in the C19. Later alterations.

MATERIALS: built of cob and stone, covered in render. The roofs are covered with slate tiles. Brick gable-end chimney stacks.

EXTERIOR: the three-storey principal elevation is a C19 re-fronting of a late-C16 or early-C17 house, and is arranged as two bays with a pitched roof and gable-end chimney stacks. The frontage is framed by decorative timber pilasters and a deeply overhanging eaves cornice with concave coving beneath. To the first floor is a timber plat band with guttae detailing, and across the width of the ground floor is a clay-tiled pentice roof, with a moulded fascia beneath that incorporates a continuous series of guttae. To the ground floor are three doorways, with transom lights above, separated by two, square bay windows of plate glass with leaded transom lights. The first-floor oriel windows, supported on timber brackets, are beneath pentice roofs and have casement windows of plate glass with three-light leaded windows above. To the second floor are two, eight-over-eight hornless sash windows with moulded architraves and hoods incorporated into the coving.

The side elevation retains a late-C16 or early-C17 square-headed, ovolo-moulded door frame with a later six-panel door. There is an eight-over-eight hornless sash window to its left.

INTERIOR: retains late-C16 or early-C17 fixtures and fittings including a fireplace with splayed stone jambs and timber bressummer incorporating an apotropaic mark; a timber plank and muntin screen; ceiling beams with cyma reversa moulding and step hollow stops; and a winder staircase. The roof has three king-post roof trusses with diagonally jointed principal rafters that are morticed and side-pegged with a notch for the ridge-piece. There is evidence of smoke blackening to the truss in the north wall, later infilled with wattle and daub.

History

20 Fore Street appears to have origins as an open-hall house of probable late-C16 or early-C17 date and is shown on a plan of Cullompton dated 1633. A bay of the open hall and the upper end is retained in the existing building, with the other bay of the hall and lower end having been demolished. The building was re-fronted in the early C19, coinciding with the raising of the roof and the alteration to the roof pitch to extend the building to the street front (east).

Reasons for Listing

20 Fore Street is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a regionally distinctive late-C16 or early-C17 house built of cob and local stone;
* for the evidence provided in the historic fabric, including smoke-blackening to the north truss, for a former open-hall house;
* for its retention of a significant proportion of its historic features, including moulded and stopped ceiling beams, plank and muntin screen, winder staircase and king-post roof trusses;
* for the overall quality of craftsmanship exhibited in the fixtures and fittings.

Historic interest:

* for its contribution to our understanding of the development of domestic architecture in the late C16 or early C17;
* for its retention of an atrophic mark to the timber bressummer of a fireplace.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26461964

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.

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  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
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