Description

BATTISFORD CHURCH ROAD
TM 05 SE

6/5 Church Cottage and
Parish Room
5.8.80

GV II

House, mid C14; a rare example of a medieval priest's house, built close to
the north side of the parish church. Remodelling of c.1520 and early C19. At
the west end is attached the Parish Room of c.1840. House: 2 storeys, 2
windows. Built as an open hall house with integral croglofft (sleeping loft);
converted to 2-cell end-chimney plan form c.1520. Timber-framed and
plastered. Slated early C19 roof. External C16 chimney of red brick with
tumbled-in weatherings; shaft collapsed above roof level. Early C19 small-
pane casements and boarded entrance door. The house is in 2 bays only: a
small service bay would also have been attached at the west end from C14 until
c.1520. The hall was open at one bay: a cambered tie beam with a pair of
heavy arch braces forms a central open truss, and there is evidence for a
knee-braced beam supporting the 1st floor beneath. The heavy C14 floor joists
are square and unchamfered. The north wall has complete studding, widely
spaced with long tension braces, and at the west end is a blocked cross-entry
doorway with one of a pair of thick knees which formed a 2-centred arched
head. The wallplate has a long splayed scarf with undersquinted butts. The
south wall was rebuilt in good close-studding c.1520: a blocked hall window
has a very deep and once moulded cill and one moulded mullion remains. The
C14 walling was painted with false close-studding to match. At this time an
upper floor was inserted in the hall, with fine roll moulded joists and
multiple roll mouldings to bridging beam and cornice. A partition wall with
4-centred arched doorway was inserted to divide off a parlour. A blocked
lintelled open fireplace in the hall, and above it a chamber fireplace with 4-
centred arch and a moulded surround, all in plasterwork simulating stone. The
roof and east wall were rebuilt in early C19. Parish Room: gault brick.Hipped
slated roof. Facing west: one storey. 2 windows, small-paned with pointed
heads and intersecting glazing bars in the Gothic manner; a matching arched
entrance door.

Listing NGR: TM0549154395

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26635179

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

• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version