Description

SX 98 SE LYMPSTONE SOWDEN LANE, Lympstone

3/43 Sowden House
18.11.77
- II

Detached house. Circa 1700, remodelled and extensively refenestrated probably circa
1819 when Captain Thomas Williams retired here from the Royal Navy. Roughcast cob,
stone footings; hipped bitumen-coated slate roof. A 2-room, through-passage house,
with rear kitchen wing. Both main rooms heated by external rear lateral stacks,
that to the left-hand room engulfed by the possibly slightly later kitchen wing.
This latter stack stands adjacent to the site of the former newel stair; the present
C19 stairs are situated in the central through passage. Rear wing with external
end stack. C19 rear extensions. 2 storeys.
Front: slightly asymmetrical 3-window range; main rooms lit by tripartite 4:12:4
pane hornless sashes; round-headed 12-pane hornless sash window above porch light
stair landing; porch with moulded cornice on square-section wooden columns;
pilasters; door surround with small cyma-recta moulding; canted reveals; half-
glazed door. 3 late-C19 or early C20 2-light gabled full dormers. Left-hand side
elevation : 12-pane hornless sash window to first floor; two 3-light casement
windows to ground floor. Lighting a small room built behind the main range rear
stack is a 2-light casement window of circa 1700, with 24 leaded panes per light, 2
decorated catches and 1 stanchion. No windows to right hand end of main range.
Rear: lunette to stair hall; rear wing with casement windows and one 4:12:4 pane
tripartite hornless sash window to first floor.
Interior: main rooms with boxed ceiling beams; chamfered lintel to left-hand room
fireplace; this stack also served a fireplace facing the rear wing, with a side
oven, all now blocked, although a bolection moulded surround survives; this room
entered by 2 early fielded panel doors. 1 rough ceiling cross beam to wing. C19
dog-leg staircase with ramped rail and stick balusters. Other early-C19 joinery and
chimneypieces.
Roof: 4 clean trusses come well down into wall; crossed, halved and pegged at
apex; halved and pegged collars; trenched purlins.

Listing NGR: SX9952883794

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26603543

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

• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)