4, 5 and 6, Chapel Road

The cottages at 4, 5, and 6 Chapel Road, Brampford Speke, represent a late 16th-century core with subsequent additions and alterations. Originally a house of three-room and cross-passage plan, the cottages are constructed of cob, rendered on a stone plinth. Number 4 has a corrugated-iron roof with a gabled end and a rear lateral stack. Numbers 5 and 6 have pantiled and thatched roofs, respectively, replacing former thatch. A 20th-century extension is present on number 6, featuring an end-stack. The roof ridge of numbers 4 and 5 are level, while number 6’s roof is higher, a change marked by a large axial stack.

The front of number 4 (left-hand cottage) features a door to the left and a single two-light window at ground level to the right. Number 5 has a wide doorway with chamfered jambs, odd grooved step stops that were later re-edged, and a segmental headed timber arch below what may be a later chamfered lintel. A three-light window is positioned to the right of the doorway, and two two-light windows are at the first floor, one pushing up into the eaves. Number 6 has two 20th-century ground floor windows and one above with eyebrow eaves. The rear elevations of numbers 4 and 5 show roofs sloping down to ground floor ceiling level; the roof of number 6 has been significantly altered. The front door to number 5 represents the original entrance to the cross-passage.

The axial stack serves the right-hand rooms, the former hall and inner chamber. The south-facing fireplace (number 5) contains a blocked side oven, suggesting a possible later stack insertion and alteration from a hall to a kitchen, or from a single house to cottages; alternatively, the stack’s position is considered unusual for Devon, being at the higher end of the hall. Both fireplaces have Thorverton stone jambs and wooden lintels, chamfered with scroll stops, with the thickness of the dividing wall near the stack blocked. Single chamfered beams are present in both rooms, some with step-stops. The beam marking the right-hand side of the passage is now supported at its rear end by curved posts, possibly re-used hip crucks. The roof structure comprises principals, collars, and rafters. The cottages form a group with the Post Office, Numbers 1-3 Chapel Road, Hillcott, and The Lodge.