Dockacre House And Attached Road Frontage Walls

Dockacre House and Attached Road Frontage Walls

Dockacre House stands just outside the town wall in Launceston, formerly known as No.2 Horse Lane. This substantial residential building dates from the 16th and 17th centuries and was remodelled in the early 18th century. It is constructed of stuccoed rubble and cob with rendering at the rear; the front features stucco over timber-frame, with parts jettied and slate hung at the ends. The left-hand end is jettied. The roof is steeply pitched in dry Delabole slate with late 19th-century crested clay ridge tiles. Brick stacks include an axial stack left of centre, an end stack on the right, and an outbuilt gabled lateral stack at the rear left.

The building follows a long single-depth plan with 2 storeys over basement on the left. The front elevation presents a 10-window range with 5 gables, each containing 2 windows. The four left-hand bays have deep jetties that were underbuilt in the mid to late 18th century. The surviving glazing in this area comprises horizontal sliding sashes forming an internal passage. Seven mid to late 17th-century transomed mullioned windows survive on the first floor left, with old leaded lights and sills of earlier windows. Elsewhere the windows are 18th-century twelve-pane hornless sashes with thick glazing bars. Beneath the jetty are 17th-century oak windows with pine opening casements. An 18th-century pedimented eared doorway is positioned slightly right of centre, fitted with an 18th-century probably adapted 2-panel door planked on the inside.

Internally, two bays of 16th-century roof structure remain on the left, while the remainder of the roof is 17th century, comprising uneven oak trusses with lapped and pegged collars, trenched purlins and asymmetrical apexes. The feet of the trusses are visible to the rear of the chambers, proving they predate the late 17th-century cross windows. The 17th-century floor joists are cross and axial relating to the jetties. Cyma mouldings appear to the inside of 17th-century windows. Two 17th-century basement windows are blocked from outside. A 17th-century winder stair occupies the left side, while an impressive imperial late 17th-century stair dominates the large entrance hall, featuring a shaped door head, panelled newels, closed string with pulvinated frieze, turned balusters, irregularly spaced steps, and a rare pair of late 17th-century dog gates with turned splat balusters.

Late 17th or 18th-century features include plank and muntin panelling to the hall; bolection-moulded panelling and chimney-piece to the right-hand room with a later 18th-century niche containing shaped shelves; ovolo-moulded panelling to the room left of the hall and a chimney-piece with dentilled cornice; moulded ceiling cornices and 6-panel doors with small central panels; a late 18th-century inverted-arch iron gate and moulded ceiling cornice to the right-hand chamber; a bolection-moulded chimney-piece to the chamber towards the left with a similar grate; 3-panel doors to chambers; numerous shutters with fielded panels; and a 4-sided canopied ceiling to the chamber further to the left. A late 18th or 19th-century cloam oven has been fitted to the original basement fireplace. A vaulted wine cellar beneath the gateway is now blocked. Subsidiary features include rubble walls to the road frontage and gateway, with chamfered granite column bases resited after discovery in the garden in 1970 serving as wall caps.

The house has notable historical associations. Nicholas Herle, who served as Mayor in 1716 and 1721, lived here with his wife Elizabeth. Elizabeth's death in December 1714 was commemorated by a memorial in the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene inscribed "Depart ye life ye December 1714 by starvation or other unlawful means." A later account in the Norwich Mercury of 10th August 1728 recorded the death of Nicholas Herle at Hampstead, describing him as "a gentleman of good character and great estate who not long since when he was High Sheriff of that county, had the misfortune accidentally to shoot his lady." Another eminent occupant was Coryndon Rowe, Physician and Alderman, who served as Mayor in 1792, 1797, 1810, 1821 and 1829. A son born to this couple in 1801 became Sir William Carpenter Rowe.

Dockacre House has a reputation for being haunted, possibly by Elizabeth and others, with local tradition recording mysterious movement of objects. The house contains a collection of walking sticks belonging to former occupants, which tradition holds must be kept in the correct order to prevent them rattling at night.