Description

DARTMOUTH

SX874510 LOWER STREET
673-1/8/161 (West side)
14/09/49 No.27
Agincourt House

GV II

Merchant's house, now shops with workshop and flats above.
Medieval origins; parts of the stone walls possibly C14,
rebuilt probably in the mid C17; some C18 and C19 alterations,
restored c1930-40, modernised again in 1990. Mixed
construction; limestone rubble side and back walls,
timber-framed front and crosswalls, some of it exposed, some
plastered and some slate-hung; stone rubble stacks with
rendered C19 brick chimneyshafts and old pots; slate roofs.
PLAN: C17 layout has front and back blocks with courtyard
between and connected on the right (north) side by galleries
at first- and second-floor levels. Original front-block stack
in left sidewall, and rear-block stack in the rear wall.
Courtyard, front and rear blocks now divided into small shops
on ground floor.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys and attics; 2-window first-floor range.
Stone side walls corbelled out to carry deep first-floor
jetty. C20 timber shop front below has shop windows with
glazing bars each side of central passage entrance. Projecting
joists carrying the jettied first floor oversail a crossbeam
(inserted in the C20), the front of which is carved with a
repeating pattern in C17 style; it is supported on a couple of
large timber posts. First-floor level has exposed
timber-framing. Only the outermost timbers are C17 -
ogee-moulded with small panels and including end styles from
C17 windows. Rest is made up from old timbers and contains C20
mullion-and-transom windows with diamond panes of leaded
glass. Similar style and date to second-floor C17-style oriel
windows; front is slate-hung at this level. Roof parallel to
the street and contains C20 front flat-roofed dormer window.
The building projects further into the street than its
neighbours and contains C20 windows with leaded glass;
single-light window first-floor left has a frame apparently
made up from reused carved timbers and both sides have a
2-light window with trefoil heads to the second floor.
INTERIOR: Most floors have joists of large scantling, mostly
C17 but some, like those to first-floor front which are
ovolo-moulded, possibly reused or repositioned. C19
replacements are easily recognised, eg. to rear block attic.
Ground-floor level is the most heavily restored and, apart
from the joists, original and introduced timbers cannot be
easily distinguished. All ground-floor fireplaces are probably
C19. Upper floors have good C17 hooded fireplaces with shaped
oak brackets to chamfered or ovolo-moulded and scroll-stopped
oak lintels. A second fireplace, second-floor front, is from
the second half of the C17, of Dutch brick with curving back
corners and plain oak lintel. Front-block roof is a C19
replacement but rear-block roof is C17, of 3 bays carried on
A-frame trusses with pegged lap-jointed collars and threaded
purlins. Other features are hidden, particularly the
construction of the galleries.
HISTORY: Agincourt House is a rare and relatively
well-preserved survival of the C17 gallery-and-back-block type
of town house. It is the only house left on the west side of
Lower Street on the medieval frontage. Road widening has
removed the rest.
(The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Devon: London: P.328).

Listing NGR: SX8781351074

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26504770

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

• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)