Homeleigh The Cottage

Homeleigh and The Cottage, Forrabury and High Street, Boscastle

A house dating from the late 16th century, now divided into two dwellings. The building is constructed of painted slate stone rubble with a rag slate roof featuring several early crested ridge tiles. Multiple gable ends punctuate the roofline—to right and left of the main range, and to the front wing on the right. Chimneys include a rendered stone rubble and brick stack on the left hand gable end, a rear lateral hall stack with brick shaft, a stone rubble axial stack to the right, and a stone rubble gable end stack to the front wing on the right.

The ground slopes downhill to the right, and the plan has been significantly altered since the house was divided into two properties. The original layout is uncertain but possibly comprised two or three rooms with a through passage, with the left hand room heated by a gable end stack and the larger right hand room on the lower side heated by a rear lateral stack. The original entrance was probably positioned to the left of the current entrance. A small unheated inner room to the right on the lower side of the hall may or may not have existed.

Around the early 17th century, a cross wing of single-room plan was added to the front of and overlapping the lower end of the right hand room, with the ground floor heated by an axial stack at the junction of the main range and front wing, and the first floor chamber heated by a gable end stack on the front. During the 17th century, a further wing of single-room plan was added to the rear of the through passage on the left, which was extended further back with a second room in circa late 18th or early 19th century. Around the 19th century the house was divided into two and operated as a public house. The entrance to the left hand range (Homeleigh) was relocated to the right, in the angle with the front wing. The entrance to the right hand range (The Cottage) was inserted into the front gable end.

The building is two storeys with an asymmetrical front elevation featuring three bays to the left and one to the right. Homeleigh's ground floor on the left has a 19th-century horizontal two-light sliding sash, an early 19th-century twelve-pane sash, and a 20th-century plank door. The first floor contains a two-light casement and a 19th-century two-light horizontally sliding sash, both in half dormers with raking roofs, plus a four-pane sash to the right. The Cottage to the right has a 20th-century replacement sixteen-pane sash in a blocked entrance and a 20th-century part-glazed door with porch constructed of large slate slabs, located in an earlier window opening to the right. The first floor displays a replacement sixteen-pane sash with hoodmould above. Slate weathering probably indicates an earlier outshot on the left hand side of the wing.

The rear elevation remains unaltered. The Cottage has replacement sixteen-pane sashes on the rear. Homeleigh features a two-storey rear wing of stone rubble with slate roof and gable end, equipped with 19th-century casements and a plank door. The gable end wall has been rebuilt.

Interior. The Cottage contains a 20th-century fireplace. The ceiling beams to the front wing are chamfered with straight-cut stops, while the slighter ceiling beams to the rear are chamfered with run-out stops. The roof is ceiled and was not accessible at the time of survey. The truss above the front wing has been boxed in and the right hand truss above the lower end is incorporated into a partition. The second truss, above the higher side of the passage, displays a pronounced curve to the foot of the principal. The collar, now removed, appears to have been morticed into the principals with two tiers of trenched purlins.

Homeleigh's interior has been partly altered with partitions repositioned. The ground rises to the left with two steps up to the left hand room. A 20th-century fireplace is installed in the left hand room, which also contains a circa early 17th-century cross beam with chamfer. The floor joists to the front of this beam are closely spaced with chamfer and elongated stepped stops. The floor joists to the rear have been replaced and are roughly cut. The partition between the left hand and right hand rooms, originally the partition on the higher side of the through passage, appears to contain a heavy chamfered bressummer although partly obscured. In the right hand room the partition on the lower side of the passage has been removed, although the bressummer remains in situ with chamfer and straight cut stops. The floor joists above the passage display bowtell mouldings, while the floor joists above the right hand room are roughly cut and have probably been partly replaced in the 18th century.

The roof structure was not accessible at the time of survey. Two trusses above the right hand room are partly visible; the rear principal on the lower, right hand side has a pronounced curved foot, although the collar appears to be simply lap-jointed and pegged onto the face of the principals. The trusses have been painted.