Description

SX 69 SE SOUTH TAWTON SOUTH TAWTON

4/229 Lower Dibbe Cottage, Dibbe House
and Dibbe Cottage
GV II

3 cottages, formerly a single farmhouse. Mid C17, maybe earlier in parts,
modernised when divided into cottages circa 1970. Plastered stone rubble and cob,
parts are massive blocks of coursed granite ashlar; granite stacks, two of them with
their original granite ashlar chimneyshafts; thatch roof.
Plan and development: 3 1-room plan cottages built down a hillslope and is facing
north-east. They occupy a 3-room-and-through-passage plan farmhouse. Uphill at the
right end Dibbe Cottage occupies the former inner room and it has a gable-end stack.
Dibbe House occupies the former hall and passage and the hall has an axial stack
backing onto the passage. Lower Dibbe Cottage occupies the former service end
kitchen and a small dairy at the left end. Kitchen axial stack backing onto the
dairy and there is a large newel stair at the front end of the dairy. 2-storey
outshot in front of the dairy. Slit window of unknown function immediately right of
the front passage doorway. All cottages are 2 storeys.
Exterior: main front has an irregular 4-window front of C19 and C20 casements with
glazing bars. The passage front doorway is a little left of centre and now contains
a C20 glazed door under what might be a C19 gabled hood. The roof is gable-ended to
right and hipped to left. The 2-storey outshot in front of the left end is flat-
roofed but a late C19 photograph shows it with a thatch-roofed gabled roof. Dibbe
Cottage and Lower Dibbe Cottage have rear doorways. Passage rear doorway (to Dibbe
House) has a mid C17 ovolo-moulded oak frame.
Interior: only the interior of Lower Dibbe Cottage was available for inspection at
the time of this survey. The structure here is entirely mid C17. The former
kitchen crossbeam is soffit-chamfered with straight-cut stops and the granite
fireplace has an ovolo-moulded oak lintel. Roof of A-frame trusses with mortice-
and-tenoned collars. Some of the common rafters appear to be smoke-blackened,maybe
reused from a late medieval roof, and the only apparent hint of an earlier house on
the site. The rest of the house is probably as well-preserved. Tne previous
listing mentions panelling and the Devon SMR reports an oak screen, an oak stair
with acorn-shaped knobs and an elaborately moulded cupboard here.
Source: Devon SMR

Listing NGR: SX6528194324

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26464947

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

• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)