19-23 Lower Town, Sampford Peverell, Devon

Summary

A C15/C16 medieval hall house, now two houses, with inserted first floor to the hall (21), cross passage with plank and muntin screen, superior quality oak framed ceiling to the upper end (19) and substantial remains of three jointed crucks to the roof. Two inglenook fireplaces and part of the oak-framed rear wing also survive.

Description

A hall house of C15/C16 date with C17-C19 adaptations and extensions and later alterations, now arranged as two houses.

MATERIALS: constructed of oak jointed-cruck trusses with oak timber-framing, partition walls and a plank and muntin screen with rubble stone walling. There are some elm and pine floorboards, but otherwise the joinery, interior fittings and floor coverings are of modern materials. The roofs are covered in slate. The doors and casement windows are of timber. The rear wings are built of stone, brick and concrete block.

PLAN: built on a north-east/ south-west orientation, the building is a three-unit plan with central hall and cross passage, lower end to the north and upper end to the south. Originally an open hall it has a C17 inserted first floor. Both ends are of storeys, probably as built. The upper end was converted in the late C20 to provide an attic floor. To the rear are three historic additions, and their later C20 extensions are not of special interest.

EXTERIOR: the principal (north-west) elevation is set back from the road and is of eight bays with a projecting porch (not of special interest) to each end. The left six bays (lower end and hall; 21/23 Lower Town) are rendered with enlarged openings to the centre bays and two door entrances. To the left of the left-hand door (to the cross passage) a projection accommodates a bread oven. The right two bays (upper end; 19 Lower Town) are exposed random coursed rubble stone under timber lintels. The window to each floor has been reduced in width by one light and infilled in stone. The north-east flank of the building is rendered and to the rear are two parallel gabled wings of two storeys with door openings to the ground floor. To the right, attached to the north-east corner, is a single-storey C20 office that is not of special interest. To the left is a two-storey rear addition to the hall under a catslide roof. Further left, the rear of 19 Lower Town has a single storey plus attic addition. The attached flat roofed and mono-pitched extensions are not of special interest. There are two rooflights to the left of the main roof and three rendered brick chimney stacks to the roofs.

INTERIOR: the left-hand door in the façade opens into the lower end, which has an inglenook with bread oven in the south wall. The oak bressumer has deep taper burn marks. To its left is a late C20 winder stair. Many of the joists and one spine beam to the floor structure above are late C20 replacements. The other spine beam has a deep chamfer and stops and appears to be of C17 date. A room to the rear, probably an early C19 addition, has no fittings of historic interest and gives access to the cross passage with a pegged oak plank-and-muntin screen to the hall. The screen has some repair and replacement at lower level and to the centre is a four-centred (Tudor) arch into the hall. To the ceiling of the hall are two stop-chamfered spine beams with square profile joists with stops. The back wall has an inserted brick chimney partly built around one of the spine beam ends. To its right is a blocked-up doorway with a frame of possible C17/C18 date. Further right, an understair cupboard conceals part of the close stud wall to the upper end in 19 Lower Town. At the left end of the wall is a doorway with stop-chamfered jambs and mouldings. The staircase is of early C20 date and the other parts of the wall have exposed laths covering the studs. On the 19 Lower Town side, the wall is exposed and pegged into a cluster moulded beam that forms part of the substantial oak-framed ceiling of the upper end. Square profile joists with a beading detail are set in the ceiling. A modern oak stair cut into the back (east end) of the ceiling exposing the end of a box-framed rear wing. Otherwise the framed ceiling is complete and there is a stone inglenook with oak bressumer in the south wall. The room above has elm floorboards running in-line with the joists below. The roof is a C20 replacement with some reused elements. The first-floor landing is aligned with a former doorway to a rear corridor in the hall next door and there is a stop-chamfered doorframe to a rear bedroom. There are three jointed crucks in the hall, but they are truncated at the apex and there is C20 replacement roof structure. One blade of the third (north) cruck has been removed and a steel beam has been inserted towards the lower end. The extent of the survival of the cruck trusses is partly obscured by partitioning and inserted ceilings. The rear wings have been built with reused timbers, some possibly of C16 date or earlier, in the C19 and later. The lower end roof has been replaced in the late C20.

History

The Lower Town of Sampford Peverell was mainly laid out in the late medieval period; the earlier core having been centred on a castle and the C13 Parish Church of St John the Baptist (Grade I) in what would become known as the Upper Town. From the mid-C15 the Manor was owned by Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Tudor King Henry VII, who from the mid-C15 owned the Manor, paid for a south aisle and porch for the church and built The Old Rectory (Grade II*) with a grand parlour as her residence.

19 to 23 Lower Town was built as an open hall house in the C15 or C16, probably for someone of high status in the area, and it was likely the first building to be constructed as the Lower Town was developed. Built on a three-room plan around a central open hall with a private ‘upper end’ (later to serve as 19 Lower Town). The hall and ‘lower end’ (21 and 23 Lower Town) appear to have been ceiled over in the C17, and the inglenook and bread oven by the cross passage were possibly inserted at the same time. A C17 date may also apply to the two-storey rear wing to the upper end. The building is on a Map of the Manor of Sampford Peverell in 1796 where it is shown on a L plan. Further rear additions were built soon afterwards and are shown on the Devon Tithe Map of the 1840s. The tithe shows the building as subdivided into three residences. 19 Lower Town is shown as the larger of the three houses on the Ordnance Survey Map of the 1880, and the arrangement of the subdivision may have changed since that time.

In the 1990s the hall and lower end were brought into single occupation as 21 Lower End or Cobweb Cottage and extensive replacement of the roof structure was subsequently carried out, along with other alterations across the building. 19 Lower Town has had a stair and kitchen inserted to the rear of the parlour, and the attic converted to accommodation with a replacement roof. Parts of the rear ranges across the building have been replaced, adapted and extended in the C20 and C21.

Reasons for Listing

19-23 Lower Town, Sampford Peverell, Devon are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a medieval jointed-cruck hall house with C17-C19 adaptations this is an early and noteworthy example of an historic dwelling;
* it is well-constructed with high quality features including an unusually well-carved framed parlour ceiling, a plank and muntin screen to the hall cross passage and two inglenook fireplaces, one with a bread oven;
* the evidence of change through the insertion of a hall ceiling with stop-chamfered beams and the addition of a timber-framed rear wing to 19 Lower End illustrates the evolved historic use of the building;
* despite some more recent unsympathetic alterations and adaptations including the loss of parts of the roof, the building retains a substantial proportion of its historic fabric and layout.

Historic interest

* the high quality of the medieval built fabric, particularly the craftsmanship and design of the parlour ceiling, indicates that this was a high status building in the area that probably has historic associations with a figure of national note;
* the plan form illustrates the arrangement of a late medieval household and its evolution into the C19;
* cruck-framed hall houses are less common survivals in a village setting than on farmsteads, especially in Devon, and jointed cruck buildings are a regionally distinctive building type.

External Links

Historic England Listing

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