Description

CREDITON

SS8399 STATION ROAD
672-1/4/159 (West side)
10/11/72 1 & 2 Taw Vale Terrace rear yard
and garden walls and adjoining
stable block

GV II

2 adjoining houses including garden walls and stable blocks,
the left hand pair of four built together. Erected on land
bought by the Taw Valley Railway Company in 1830 (information
from the owner of No 1) and probably part of the same
development that includes the Railway Inn (q.v). Local
volcanic trap rubble, the front elevation stuccoed, the
remainder roughcast; slate roofs; stacks with brick shafts.
Plan: each is L-plan, 2 rooms wide with a central entrance and
a centre rear lavatory projection. Outer rear service wings at
right angles roofed parallel to the main blocks.
Exterior: 2 storeys. Each villa has a symmetrical 3-bay east
front with deep eaves carried on brackets. No 4 has a plain
clasping pilaster at the left end, No 3 has rusticated quoins.
Each has a central Tuscan doorcase (matching the Railway Inn,
part of the same development) with panelled reveals and steps
up to 6-panel front doors, the lower panels flush, the upper
panels glazed. Original sash windows throughout, 16-pane
except for first floor centre, which is 12-pane. The outer
returns with 2 gables are also very complete with original
sash windows and panelled doors to the services with doorcases
with pilasters and flat porch hoods. Rear centre stair
windows, cut across by the stair are small-pane with margin
glazing. The enclosed rear service yards are also very
complete with tall unrendered local volcanic trap walls with
rear doorways which lead to the walled rear gardens, each with
a doorway off Four Mills Lane. 2 stable blocks adjoin the
service wing of No 3 at the rear. They are roofed parallel to
the carriageway, each with a carriage door and 2 loft doors
over. The carriageway retains the remnants of pitched stone
paving.
Interior: No 4 only inspected. Very complete internally with
decorated plaster cornices and decorated plasterwork to the
arches at the end of the entrance passage and into the service
wing. Original joinery includes skirtings, panelled doors and
shutters. Marble chimney-piece to front left room. Stick
baluster stair with a mahogany handrail. Comparison with the
details of No 1 (q.v) indicates that each villa was fitted out
with slightly different details.
An unusually complete pair: the survival of the overall plan
of the development, along with Nos 1 & 2 and all the ancillary
walls and stables, is particularly rare.

Listing NGR: SX8395299612

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26559859

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

• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)