Description

CREDITON

SS834000 DOWNESHEAD LANE 672-1/6/29 (East side) No.27

GV II

House and adjoining barn. House circa 1730 in origin, replanned internally. Barn probably late C17 with several phases of alteration.House Flemish bond brick on local stone rubble footings, rear elevation partly roughcast; hipped slate roof laid in diminishing courses;end stacks with brick shafts. Barn partly cob, partly stone, partly painted brick; thatched roof, gabled at ends. Plan: single depth, 2 rooms wide with central entrance facing the stair.Evidence that the left hand room was originally smaller and had a service room to the rear, and the main entrance led directly into a larger room to the right with the stair rising against the rear wall. A single storey service room, set back at the right end, has been raised to 2 storeys, probably in the 1930s or 40s. Adjoining this is a 3-bay barn. Exterior: The House of 2 storeys. Symmetrical 3-bay front plus one window to the right end addition. Central 4-panel door, the lower panels flush, the upper replaced with glass, with a simple moulded doorcase.Curved corrugated asbestos porch hood on probably late C19 plain cast iron brackets. The left hand ground floor window is an original early C18 3-light casement with bead moulded mullions, square leaded panes and original window funiture. Ground floor right and the first floor window above it are circa 1940s in a matching style to the original. First floor window left is a probably C19 3-light timber casement, 2 panes per light. First floor centre window is a 2-light casement with square leaded panes. The left hand addition has one ground and one first floor C20 window. Interior:re-planned internally but some features survive. Fitted cupboards are set into both end walls. A number of 2-panel early C18 doors survive, some clearly re-sited but likely to originate from the house. Small section of dado panelling adjacent to the front door. Barn originally lofted, loft floor missing. The south elevation has a large, partly blocked doorway to the left and a probably C18 originally unglazed window to the right. The rear elevation, over looking Buller Square, is of painted brick and has a probably C18 door of wide planks to right of centre. Interior: Evidence of considerable rebuilding. The east end wall (abutting No 4, Buller Square) is partly cob but with a full-height section of stone to the left.The roof trusses are heavily-repaired A-frames, the collars pegged directly onto the principals, the pegs augmented with large nails. The front feet of the principals rest on a wall plate on the brickwork, which has also been repaired. The house may be the earliest brick building in Crediton. It was formerly owned by the Downes Estate and is said to have been lived in by the estate blacksmith. The barn was probably built as an open-fronted linhay, before it was adapted in connection with No 27: it forms an important element in the courtyard plan of the Buller Square group (q.v.),parts of which are probably late C16.

Listing NGR: SS8396700063

External Links

• Wikidata Q26584865

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Recommended Books

• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings