Description

TIVERTON

SS91NE CHEVITHORNE
848-1/2/61 Berry

GV II

Farmhouse. Mid C16 with later alterations. Rendered cob walls;
stone rubble front lateral stack.
PLAN: 2 rooms of former possible 3-room plan survive, the part
of the house left of the cross passage having been built in
the 1990s, at which time no old foundations were identified.
The surviving original part has a large hall right of the
passage and a parlour at far right, the rooms divided by oak
screens, and a winder stair in rear projection which served
first-floor closet and chambers in separate occupancy.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys; overall 5-window range (the 2 bays on
left C20), the front dominated by a large stepped rubble
lateral stack right of centre. C20 windows; C20 door to
doorway left of stack with open lean-to porch in front; C20
conservatory right of stack.
INTERIOR: has some very fine C16 features including 2 muntin
and plank screens flanking the hall (rear part of passage
screen removed); 3 Tudor-arched doorways: from passage to
hall, hall to parlour (head of parlour doorway restored) and
another to winder stair projection rear of the hall;
complex-moulded crossbeams (1 beam replaced and with re-used
headrail of screen at the top) and there is a double
cyma-moulded cranked lintel with ogee stops to the large hall
fireplace.
Parlour has moulded crossbeams that intersect at the centre to
form a coffered ceiling; later corner fireplace, the original
fireplace possibly at the front of the room, now a large
window bay.
Staircase is of unusual interest with short central flight
leading to flights winding to right and left, and near the top
of the left-hand flight is a doorway to a closet or garderobe.
This doorway and the doorways at the top of the stairs are all
C16 and chamfered, the closet doorway and the doorway at the
top of the right-hand flight with original planked doors.
There is a similar original doorframe into the chamber above
the parlour with remains of simple planked screen on its left
(from landing). Original 3-bay jointed-cruck roof structure
with light smoke-blackening.
HISTORY: Berry was repaired by a Captain Peters between 1957
and 1972, following a long period of being uninhabited.
Berry has an unassuming exterior but retains a rare and
important interior of considerable interest.

Listing NGR: SS9793016458

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26664515

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

• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair