Description

SX 8178
11/72

BOVEY TRACEY
FORE STREET
Nos. 66-68, and No. 70 (Yew Tree Cottage)

(Formerly listed as Nos. 66 and 68 (Rumbling Tum Restaurant) and No. 70 (Yew Tree Cottage)

23.8.55

GV
II*
Formerly a single house. Early or mid-C16, with C20 additions at the rear; extensively repaired in 1973. Stone and cob covered with old roughcast at the rear and and sides, C20 render at the front; porch has timber-framed front wall. Slated roof with clay ridge-tiles, those of the latter on the south-west half of the roof having low crestings. Projecting chimneystacks with offsets in both gable walls, and in centre of rear wall. The rear stack is of granite ashlar and has a chamfered cap. Both it and the south-west gable stack have added brick shafts.

Probably a three-room and through-passage plan originally, with open hall in centre heated from the first by a fireplace in the rear wall. Two storeys. Four-window front; all windows have C20 wood casements. Second bay from left has an entrance-porch with upper storey jettied at the front; solid side-walls are corbelled out to match the jetty. From the street four granite steps lead up to original inner doorway on left-hand side of porch; this has a chamfered, round-headed wood frame with durn jambs. Old plank door with short strap-hinges. Lintel to porch opening is chamfered with pyramid stops. Bend on left side; inserted staircase on right side.

Interior has been divided so that Nos. 66 and 68 have the former hall, through-passage and lower room, while Yew Tree Cottage (No. 70) has the former parlour. The hall has large hollow-moulded granite fireplace with pyramid stops (at present concealed) at the foot; back of fireplace is of large ashlar blocks. Above the lintel, and partly blocked by the upper-floor beams, is a relieving arch of well-cut voussoirs, the space between it and the lintel filled with specially-cut pieces of granite. Longitudinal upper-floor beam is ovolo-moulded with raised run-out stops; joists are scratch-moulded. Partition with through-passage is a stud-and-panel screen with studs plain to hall, chamfered to passage; studs over diagonal-cut stops at the top (an unusual feature) and may originally have had them at the bottom. In 1973 the partition at upper end of hall (next Yew Tree Cottage) had a stud-and-panel screen, chamfered on both sides and with diagonal-cut stops; the head-beam was ovolo-moulded. It is not known whether this screen has been removed, or is buried in the present solid wall. On the lower side of the passage is another stud-and-panel screen with studs chamfered on both sides and having diagonal-cut stops; some of the studs have been brought in from another screen. Lower room has chamfered upper-floor beam with matching half-beam against the gable wall. Large fireplace with plain granite jambs; chamfered wood lintel, designed for a wider opening, with step-stop at one end. In rear wall, next to the gable, are the remains of a newel staircase set in the wall-thickness; it has a wooden door-
frame, chamfered on the stair side, with cranked head. Yew Tree Cottage, which was not inspected, had no upper floor beam or joists when seen during repairs in 1973. The ground-storey fireplace had a roughish wood lintel. In 1973 the original roof-structure was complete, with nine trusses, seven of them side-pegged jointed crucks and the other two closed tie-beam trusses. The trusses had cranked collars and three sets of butt purlins, but no ridge. The hall and lower end had one tier of well-shaped windbraces. The closed trusses, which marked off the three-bay hall roof, had a central pegged strut from collar to tie-beam, although the latter had been removed at the upper end. At the lower end a second central pegged strut ran from tie-beam to upper-floor beam. It formed the centre of a close-studded partition in the second storey; the other studs, however, were halved to the face of the tie-beam and had clearly replaced an earlier wattle-and-daub partition, the stake-holes of which could be seen on the underside of the tie-beam. The roof was not smoke-blackened, although the timbers had been darkened by damp in places. All this detail appears to remain intact over Nos. 66 and 68; a later ceiling makes it difficult to be completely certain at the lower end but over the hall the roof-timbers (which have been stained a dark colour) are open to the upstairs room.

C19 title deeds refer to the whole building as Yew Tree House. On the title map it is shown as occupying a large open site on this side of the street. It was clearly an urban mansion of considerable importance in the town.

Source: 1973 report by Michael Laithwaite.

Listing NGR: SX8161478526

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17535994

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

• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)