Philomel Cottage

Philomel Cottage is a cottage located on the east side of High Street in East Budleigh, dating from the early 17th century and modernised around 1960. It features plastered cob on stone rubble footings, with stone rubble stacks topped with late 19th-century brick, and one stack has late 19th-century Rolle Estate chimney pots. The cottage has a thatched roof and a two-room plan with a central staircase, which has been altered into one ground floor room facing west onto the High Street. There is a service through passage on the right (southern) end, connecting to the adjoining 38 High Street. The right room contains a rear lateral stack, while the left room features an end stack in the party wall.

The cottage is two storeys high and has a two-window front with late 19th to early 20th-century casements that include glazing bars, with three lights on the left and two on the right. A part-glazed 20th-century door is located between the windows, and the right end passage has no door. The roof runs continuously with the neighbouring cottages, although the eaves step up from Philomel Cottage to 38 High Street on the left (north).

The interior was modernised around 1960, with most joinery details, including the stairs, dating from that time. Both fireplaces are blocked, but the left room retains an early 17th-century soffit-chamfered and step-stopped crossbeam, and an exposed side-pegged jointed cruck roof truss on the first floor. This truss is of relatively slender scantling, and the roof space runs continuously northwards over the adjoining No. 38 High Street. The party wall between the two cottages is a 17th-century oak frame with close-set studs and cob infill. Philomel Cottage and the adjoining 34 High Street appear to be a pair of cottages likely created by dividing a 17th-century or earlier house in the early 19th century. Together, they are part of an attractive and varied group of buildings, most of which are listed, located near the Church of All Saints.