Friars Pardon, Black House, Black Friars House Including Walls, Gates And Piers

FRIARS PARDON, BLACK HOUSE, BLACK FRIARS HOUSE INCLUDING WALLS, GATES AND PIERS

A large house on Milton Street, Higher Brixham, probably dating from the 16th or 17th century or earlier, substantially remodelled in the 17th and 18th centuries, with further modifications in the 18th and 19th centuries. Minor additions were made to the front in 1913. The building is believed to have originally been the Town Manor House and stands on land that formerly belonged to the Duke of Suffolk, sold off by the Crown between 1590 and 1610.

The house is constructed with solid rendered walls and a slate roof. The left cross-wing is hipped to both front and rear. Four rendered chimneys with tapered caps are present: one on the right end wall (heightened in brick), one on the right rear wall of the Black House, and one on each of the rear wings.

The building appears to follow a 3-room-and-cross-passage plan with a cross wing projecting to the left. Rear wings are positioned at each end of the main range, with a third wing alongside the left wing behind the cross passage. It rises to two storeys with a garret in parts.

The front elevation comprises a 4-window main range and 2 windows in the cross wing. The section known as Black House occupies the three left-hand windows of the main range. It features a central doorway with a large 18th or 19th-century wooden porch having slender fluted columns and a flat hood designed as an entablature with dentilled cornice. The door surround is rusticated and dates to 1913; the door itself is half-glazed with 2 moulded panels below and coloured leaded glass above. Above and to the left on the upper storey is a 3-light window; the other two upper-storey windows are single-light with 6-paned sashes, those in the side-lights being 2-paned. A moulded scroll above the middle upper-storey window bears the dates 1457-1913.

Friars Pardon occupies the right-hand end of the main range and has matching 3-light windows in each storey, with a 4-panelled door to the left.

The cross-wing, known as Black Friars House, contains 2-light wood casements with 8 panes per light. A half-glazed door to the right has 2 moulded panels below and coloured leaded glass above.

The entire front has been decorated with cement quoins and window surrounds, apparently dating to 1913. A coved eaves-cornice runs over the main range. Two 20th-century dormers are present: one with metal casements over Friars Pardon, and another with wood casements over Black Friars House.

The left side wall features 3 windows with 6-paned sashes in the upper storey and a 20th-century dormer with wood casements. The rear wall contains small-paned sashes and a rainwater-head dated 1881.

Interior detail at the Black House is almost entirely from the 18th and 19th centuries, with some elements from the 17th and 18th centuries, probably including the roof structure. A wooden open-well stair has its first flight balustraded on both sides, with the balustrades turning left and right at the top. Thin, square moulded balusters feature shaped step-ends; both handrails are voluted at the foot. In front of the stair is a segmental arch springing from moulded pilasters. Ground-floor rooms are accessed via 6-panelled doors with panelled shutters and moulded cornices with enriched ceiling bands. The first-floor half-landing and landing have moulded cornices; a segmental arch spans the stair-head. Five 6-panelled doors access first-floor rooms, all three of which have moulded cornices. The right-hand room contains a 17th or 18th-century wooden chimneypiece with moulded surround and cornice. The left-hand room has a 19th-century moulded wooden chimneypiece with grey marble interior and iron basket-grate. The left rear-wing room features a grey marble chimneypiece with hob grate and cupboards with plank and panelled doors, one topped with a broken triangular pediment; a moulded cornice is present. A short adjoining wing (now a bathroom) has a round-arched recess in its rear wall with fluted pilasters and moulded archivolt, with a moulded cornice. The roof-trusses of the front range have arched collars pegged to their faces and through-purlins. An old iron pump stands in the back yard.

To the left of the house is a rendered wall with coping. At the left-hand end, this curves inwards towards a pair of large round gate piers with ball finials and iron gates marked BLACK HOUSE TRADESMEN, featuring arched braces and scrollwork. At the right-hand end is a smaller iron gate with ornamented finials to the uprights and square piers with pyramidal caps and ball finials.