Description

SY 08 NE
3/25
30.6.61

BICKTON
YETTINGTON
Kerslake Cottage

GV
II

House, former farmhouse. Late C16-early C17, service end stack rebuilt in second
half of C17, modernised in C19 and again circa 1980. Plastered cob on exposed stone
rubble footings; stone stacks, the hall and service end stacks have hollow-chamfered
limestone plinths and ashlar quoins and the service end chimney shaft is made of
late C17 brick (maybe imported Dutch)) corrugated iron roof (formerly thatch).
4-room-and-through-passage plan house facing south with the 2 service rooms on the
right (eastern) end. On the lower side of the passage there is a small unheated room
and a kitchen beyond with projecting end stack. The hall has a front projecting
lateral stack and the inner room has a rear lateral stack. There is a secondary
block projecting right angles to rear of the inner room which may be originally but
was nearly all rebuilt in the C19 with an end stack. Stair turret projecting square
to rear of hall. It is original but was altered in the C19. Secondary outshots to
rear. House is 2 storeys.
Irregular 4-window front of C20 casements with glazing bars. The front passage
doorway is set a little right of centre. One side is lined with brick showing that
it was narrowed in the C19. It contains a C19 6-panel door. The hall stack
alongside to left has a plastered shaft, either it is stone ashlar or has been
rebuilt with brick. There is a tiny fire window in the left side. The roof is half-
hipped to left and gable-ended to right. The kitchen stack in the right end wall has
weathered offsets and a chimney shaft of early brick. At the base there is a C19
oven projection. The rear block includes a disused C19 doorway and C20 casements
with glazing bars. It is gable-ended.
Good interior: the layout and most of the features are original. However all the
ground floor partitions have been rebuilt with C19 brick but in the same positions as
the originals. Along the lower side of the passage the headbeam from a plank-and-
muntin screen. A small section from an oak plank-and-muntin screen was reused in the
C19 in the staircase off the lower end of the passage. The crossbeam in the
unheated service room is boxed in. The kitchen crossbeam is soffit-chamfered with
truncated pyramid stops, identical to the crossbeam in the inner room. The kitchen
fireplace was rebuilt in the second half of the C17 and altered again in the C19. It
is large, mostly built of stone rubble and its oak lintel is soffit-chamfered with
scroll stops. The left side is C19 brick and includes its own small grate and flue.
The oven at the rear is also C19. The hall was apparently floored from the
beginning. Here the crossbeam and half beams are richly moulded with ovolos
alternating with hollow chamfers and have flat urn stops. The fireplace is very
good. It is Beerstone ashlar with an oak lintel, a broad chamfered surround with urn
stops and the cheeks are panelled. There is a smaller version in the chamber
abaove. To rear of the hall is a rectangular lobby which presumably housed the
original stair before the one in the hall was built. It was divided off from the
hall by an oak-framed wall part of which survives on the first floor. The studs are
set relatively close together and have a series of holes in their edges into which
riven oak lathes are slotted to provide a ladder backing to the cob infil. The main
first floor crosswals are built in the same way. The roof is carried on 4 side-
pegged jointed crucks. All the features of the rear block are C19 and much of the
joinery detail in the main block is C19.
Kerslake Cottage is an interesting and attractive house. It is unusual for Devon
being a single phase house. All the early features are late C16-early C17. For
that time the plan form appears somewhat old-fashioned even through the hall was
floored from the beginning. Furthermore some of the original features such as the
hall fireplace are of surprisingly high quality for a house this size.
plain soffit chamfer. The roof is not accessible.
Although no feature shows that can be dated earlier than the mid C19 the plan form
suggests a C18 or even C17 date.
Lemprice Farmhouse forms part of a group in an attractive hamlet.

Listing NGR: SY0537785700

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26499364

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

• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings