Hawthorn Cottage

Hawthorn Cottage is a late 17th-century cottage, likely with earlier origins. The front is of handmade red brick in Flemish bond, with decorative burnt headers, although the brick is facing cob. The brick stacks and chimneyshafts are prominent, and the roof is thatched. The plan is of a 3-room-and-through-passage house, facing south. To the east end is a small, unheated room, probably a buttery or dairy. This is followed by the passage, then the hall with a large projecting front lateral stack, likely used as a kitchen. At the west end is a parlour with an end stack. The layout suggests the presence of an earlier open hall house, although few original features of that period are visible. The cottage is two storeys high with secondary outshots at the rear.

The exterior is noted as particularly attractive. The front has an irregular 4-window arrangement of flat-faced mullion windows containing rectangular panes of leaded glass, with some glazing bars. First-floor windows have flat eyebrows. Although many windows are replacements, some are original, notably the first-floor window at the right end. The front door, located to the right of centre next to the hall stack, is a 20th-century part-glazed door set under a contemporary thatch-roofed hood. A flat platband runs across the front at first floor level. The roof is hipped to the left and half-hipped to the right. A small, single-light window with rectangular panes of leaded glass is located at the left end.

The interior has largely been modernized in the 19th and 20th centuries, exposing few original features. Both fireplaces are blocked by 20th-century grates. However, a cupboard alongside the hall grate reveals what appears to be one end of a Tudor arch lintel. The hall features a 4-panel ceiling of intersecting chamfered beams with scroll stops. Roof inspection was not possible, but the bases of straight principals are visible below ceiling level, suggesting late 17th-century A-frame trusses. While Devon SMR reports the presence of jointed cruck trusses, none were observed during inspection.

Hawthorn Cottage is described as very picturesque, enhanced by its location within the landscaped grounds of Escot Park. It is considered one of the earliest brick buildings in rural Devon, part of a group of notable early brick buildings in the area. Its size suggests it may have originally functioned as a dower house or similar structure, though no farm buildings are situated nearby.