Devonshire Cottage

Devonshire Cottage is a house of 1799, extended in the mid-19th century, built of rubble brought to course and ashlar with signs of lime-washed render in several areas. The roofs are slate or 20th-century pantiles. The house is of two and three storeys with an attached L-shaped service wing to the west.

The north front is near-symmetrical with a projecting gabled wing to the centre. To the left of centre at ground floor level is a doorway with a four-centred head and projecting surround containing a half-glazed door with Gothick tracery. At first floor level are two metal-framed casement lights set beneath a Tudor hood-mould with intersecting glazing bars to the head. Set in the gable is a sexfoil plaque reading 'J/TM/1799'. To either side of this gable are recessed single-storey portions with two-light mullioned casements with hood-moulds. The roofing above each of these portions and the projecting wing is of 20th-century pantiles. The east flank has a single-storey portion at right with a two-light mullioned casement. At left of this the two-storey building is slate-roofed and has a shallow segmental bow with three-light casement to the first floor and a four-light full-height window at ground-floor level with a segmental fanlight having bat's-wing glazing, including panels of stained glass. This is slightly recessed within a basket-arched relieving arch. The walling to the left has two single-light casements to the first floor and a single-light casement to the ground floor. The south face has four gabled bays, of which the central two are joined and recessed. Each has a two-light window to ground and first floors with hood-moulds and projecting coping to the tops of the gables. At right of these and projecting slightly is a gabled wing with a single-storey gabled porch. This has a six-panel door with arched panels to the top and bottom. Above the Tudor hood-mould is a small canopied niche extending into the gable with a sceptre finial. There is a two-light casement window above this and the gable has decorative pierced bargeboards with wooden sceptre finial to the apex. The far left bay is of three storeys and more substantial. It has a canted bay window to ground and first floors with French windows to the centre and a sixteen-pane sash window to the right flank. At first floor level the windows have been replaced with 20th-century uPVC, and the two-light second-storey windows have also been replaced in the 20th century. The parapet to the canted bay has a gablet to its centre and there are kneelers and a sceptre finial to the gable of the wing above. Extending to the left is stone walling which forms the northern boundary of the service court. This has a conservatory at right of its southern side, attached to the house with a lean-to roof. Ordnance Survey maps show that a conservatory has been in this position since at least 1885. This present building is a replacement of circa 1984, which appears to incorporate 19th-century ironwork from an earlier conservatory. To the left of this the rubble walling is covered with scribed render and has a square coping to its top. 20th-century windows and doors have been inserted to both north and south sides of this wing during conversion to domestic use in the 1980s. The outhouse identified as a wood store to the eastern end was being rebuilt during the survey visit in May 2010 and its north front had been largely demolished.

The central room on the east side has original shutters with metal furniture, as do several rooms on this floor. The cornice and decorative plaster over the segmental relieving arches to the northern and southern doors to the room are of 20th-century date. The bat's-wing fanlight above the French windows has ultramarine glass quarries. The fireplace has simple mouldings and a steel grate. The sitting room and dining room on the south front have original six-panel doors and panelled surrounds, however the fluted surrounds to the doors and built-in shelves in the sitting room with their bull's-eye corners appear to have been replaced. The rooms have replacement fireplaces; that to the dining room with a bolection surround and shelf, and that to the sitting room of oak with a dentilled cornice. To the west of the ground floor is a substantial kitchen which has bare walls with plaster removed. The staircase hall in the south-eastern corner contains a 20th-century oak staircase of Neo-Georgian design with ramped handrail, moulded tread ends, Tuscan column newels and three balusters per tread.

A relatively small house was built in 1799, as indicated by the date stone on the northern gabled wing. It was added to considerably in the early or mid-19th century. Service buildings including stables and a former wood shed were added in a range joined to the west of the house. The Ordnance Survey map published in 1885 shows that the footprint of the house has not changed since that time. It also shows that the house was set in a large plot of land with walls to three sides of the gardens. A kitchen garden was set to the north-west and a formal garden with paths to the north-east. These areas of the garden were sold off during the 1960s for development, but the surrounding wall is largely intact to the north and east sides. In the 1950s planning permission was obtained for the subdivision of the house into several separate dwelling units; this division was partially executed. Fireplaces and accompanying chimney stacks were removed in the mid-20th century by previous owners. The western service wing was replaced in 1984 by new living accommodation. The swimming pool and associated terrace were also built at that time.