Description

DARTMOUTH

SX874510 HIGHER STREET
673-1/8/147 (East side)
14/09/49 No.1
The Shambles
(Formerly Listed as:
HIGHER STREET
(East side)
Nos.1 AND 3)

GV II

Merchant's house, now shops with house above. Medieval site.
Early/mid C17; various C19 and C20 alterations, notably a
major C19 refurbishment and major repairs c1955. Mixed
construction; stone rubble party walls (rear part of Smith
Street party wall rebuilt and rendered), timber-framed front
and back crosswalls; stone rubble stacks and chimneyshafts to
side walls; slate roof.
PLAN: much altered, but originally 2 rooms deep with side
passage to right and newel stair in alcove close to front of
south party wall.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys with attic in roofspace and cellar, now
used as a shop off Smith Street. Jettied shop front to Higher
Street between thick side walls, the ends of which corbel out
at each floor level. Rendered ground-floor level contains C20
timber shop window with glazing bars and, to right, a pair of
doorways, both C20 panelled doors with plain overlights (left
one to shop and right one to house). First and second floors
have c1955 mullioned casement windows in C17 style, all
containing diamond panes of leaded glass. First-floor oriel
with 6 forward lights rebuilt on internal evidence for C17
size. Each side C17 framing of small scratch-moulded panels.
Second floor has C17 crudely-finished slender close-studding
(probably slate-hung originally) and 2 casements in positions
of small C17 oriels. Roof at right angles to street and
original front gable replaced by a hip in the C19.
Mill Street elevation: Front section is blind and rendered
stone rubble. Rear section is late C19 rendered brick,
presumably built when Smith Street was widened. Cellar is here
onto the street as it descends to Lower Street. It has C19
timber shop front - window with glazing bars and recessed
doorway to left under fascia with shaped brackets each end.
Central horned 4-pane sash to each floor, ground-floor one in
centre of tripartite sash and narrow horned 2-pane sashes to
ground and first floors.
INTERIOR: well-preserved. There is little evidence for
original partitions suggesting that they were non-structural
partitions. Each floor has large axial joists resting on the
top of a massive plain-chamfered crossbeam. Some apparently
original joists are pine. Newel stair rising round mast-like
pine post. Ground-floor fireplace is a C19 insertion but those
on first and second floors are C17, relatively small, hooded
on shaped timber corbels with moulded oak lintels. Posts each
side of front windows are richly moulded with elaborate stops.
Rear wall at ground- and first-floor levels is of similar
framing to second-floor front and parts of a wide blocked
ovolo-mullioned window shows on each floor. C17 moulded
doorframe alongside ground-floor rear window contains
contemporary panelled door on cockshead hinges. Another C17
panelled door to attic stair. Roof of C19 tie-beam trusses.
The house before its renovation and the old house adjoining to
north are shown on an old drawing by William Henley,
reproduced by Freeman (see sources).
(Freeman, Ray: Dartmouth and its Neighbours: Phillimore:
1990-: PL.28).

Listing NGR: SX8779351277

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26580578

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)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)