Description

SX 6493 - 6593 SOUTH TAWTON

8/149 Higher Dishcombe, Dove Cottage
and Shelley Way Cottage

II

3 cottages, formerly a single farmhouse. Mid C17, subdivided, modernised and
enlarged in mid C20. Plastered walls, probably granite stone rubble, maybe with
cob; granite stacks topped with plastered C20 brick; asbestos slate roof, formerly
thatch.
Plan and development: T-shaped building. The main block faces east and it is
occupied by Higher Dishcombe which is a 3-room plan cottage. Only 1 room is
original. This is the large room at the left (southern) end which has a large axial
stack backing onto the 2-room plan extension at the right (northern) end. The C17
block abuts the southern crosswing which contains Dove Cottage and Shelley Way
Cottage and appears mostly C17. These cottages face south. Dove Cottage is a 1-
room plan cottage at the left (west) end and has a gable-end stack. Outshot to rear
in the angle of the 2 wings may be original. Shelley Way Cottage is a 2-room plan
cottage. The larger left room has an axial stack backing onto Dove Cottage. The
house has been reorganised in the C20 associated with its subdivision and therefore
its original layout is difficult to unravel. It seems likely that the Shelley Way
Cottage occupies the C17 parlour, Dove Cottage occupies a service room (its stack
may be secondary) and the older part of Higher Discombe is the kitchen wing. All 3
cottage are 2 storeys.
Exterior: the Higher Discombe wing has an irregular 4-window front of C20
casements, most of them with glazing bars. Main front doorway at the left end
behind a C20 porch containing a C20 door. At right end a secondary doorway contains
a C20 french window. The south front of the crosswing has an overall 5-window front
of various C20 casements with or without glazing bars. Both doorways contain C20
doors behind contemporary gabled porches. The roofs of both wings are gable-ended.
Interior: much of the C17 fabric is hidden behind C20 plaster. In Shelley Way
Cottage no carpentry detail is exposed but the fireplace is large and built of
granite ashlar with a hollow-chamfered surround. In Dove Cottage there is a plain-
chamfered axial beam supported on a crudely-finished oak bracket on the
chimneybreast. The fireplace is granite rubble with a plain-chamfered oak lintel.
Probably C17 oak doorframe from the main room to the outshot. In Higher Discombe
the large kitchen fireplace has cheeks made from single slabs of granite ashlar, its
oak lintel is ovolo-moulded with runout stops and it has 2 ovens, 1 a Barnstaple
cloam oven. The crossbeam here has double ovolo mouldings with unusual plate stops.
Nowhere was the roof inspected although the bases of straight principals show on the
first floor; their scantling large enough to suggest that they are the original A-
frame trusses.

Listing NGR: SX6594893391

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26611592

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

• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Period property manual, victorian house manual 2 books collection set by ian rock
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)