Edgcumbe Arms Inn And Attached Stable

Edgcumbe Arms Inn and Attached Stable

An inn with attached stable, originally built in the late 17th century and substantially enlarged and remodelled in the early 18th century. Mid-19th-century alterations included the addition of a stable block, with further changes made in the 20th century. The building is constructed of rendered limestone rubble with brick dressings to the 19th-century sections, and features a hipped slate roof with brick stacks rising to the ridge.

The original plan comprised three rooms with a through passage, two rooms to the left and one to the right of the passage. The right-hand room was heated by a gable-end stack, while the two upper-end rooms shared back-to-back fireplaces. Around 1730, the front elevation was re-windowed and an additional bay was added to the right with a second flue built against the original gable-end stack. The staircase, which originally stood at the rear of the hall, was altered between ground and first floor from a winder to a dog-leg arrangement. A rear kitchen wing was constructed to the left, and a stable wing was added to the rear right. During the mid-19th century, a further rear service wing was inserted within the rear left wing, and a carriage house with tack room and grooms' accommodation was built at the end right. The ceiling level of the first-floor room at the front right was raised and the roof reconstructed. In the 20th century, a doorway was formed to provide access to the front left room, a bay was added to the centre front, and various other alterations were undertaken. The building now adopts an overall U-plan arrangement with a rear courtyard.

The main range is two storeys with five bays. The central three bays have paired 12-pane sashes with thick glazing bars in exposed boxes at first-floor level. At ground floor, the left section has a projecting bay with 20th-century windows; the centre features a central four-panelled door within a gabled porch; and to the right stands a paired sash with 19th-century replacement glazing at ground level and a 20th-century door, with a 16-pane sash above at first floor. The right bay displays 16-pane sashes at both ground and first-floor levels. Three hipped dormers rise above the central bays, each with small paired sashes fitted with leaded lights. A painted wooden board displaying the Edgcumbe shield of arms is positioned at first-floor level.

The right side of the main building includes a two-panelled door with raised fielded panels, a 12-pane sash, and a two-light casement with iron stanchions; a blocked window appears at first-floor level.

The attached stable wing to the right is unrendered, two storeys in height, and features two stable doors with brick segmental heads and two loading doors above. An L-plan carriage house, single storey, is attached to the end and projects outward, incorporating two wide doors reaching to eaves height and a louvred gabled dormer. A two-storey block adjoining the end right and enclosing an outer yard once served as tack room and ostlers' accommodation, constructed of mixed limestone and slatestone rubble. This block has double doors with overlight and a three-light casement at its inner side, two 12-pane sashes set under the eaves, all with brick segmental heads. The gable-end front displays a later 19th-century external stair accessing a porch at first-floor level, a two-light casement at ground floor left, and a round-headed 9-pane light at first floor. The right side of this block shows three brick stacks rising from the eaves.

The left side of the complex displays a three-light casement at ground floor right and a 12-pane late-18th-century sash above, with an external stair providing access to an upper door to the left. The rear wing includes a ground-floor bay with pitched roof, featuring a three-light casement to the front and single lights to the sides; at first floor, the bay contains three 20-pane sashes to the front and one to each side. A gable-end stack serves the rear wing.

The rear courtyard contains a stable or barn to the left with a door, two window openings, and ventilation slits above. The rear of the main range shows a gable end to the left with 12-pane sash at ground level and 16-pane sash at first floor. A two-storey rear wing to the right has 20th-century windows and door, a 12-pane sash set under the eaves, a three-light 20th-century casement, and an external stair accessing a door under the eaves. The rear right elevation displays two gable ends.

Interior features include the front left ground-floor room, which contains a bolection-moulded fireplace with mantel and vertical-board panelling, along with a blocked doorway to the rear. The front room second from the right has a blocked fireplace and walls panelled with raised fielded panelling, as does the end room to the right. The rear longitudinal passage features a straight wide 19th-century stair rising to the first floor; turned balusters from the early 18th-century dog-leg stair remain visible at first-floor level. The end left room at first floor contains an early 18th-century two-panelled door connecting to the adjacent room. The second room from the right end, formerly a gable-end room, features a bolection-moulded fireplace and panelled cupboards. The stair to the attic level is the original late-17th-century winder, with stepped moulded wainscot, vertical-board panelling, and one remaining carved splat baluster. The attic comprises three rooms at the left end, positioned above the original 17th-century building, each with panelled doors fitted with strap hinges and L-hinges. The roof structure displays eight bays with principal rafters only visible.

The interior of the stable wing to the rear right features a central passage with solid rubble walls; the 20th-century roof retains two early tie-beams at the rear.

The Edgcumbe Arms became a passage house around 1730, coinciding with the construction of the ferry landing at Cremyll beach.