The Rookeries Lower Deems And Lower Dean

Three cottages, formerly one house, located in the hamlet of Street at Berry Hill, Branscombe. The building dates from the early to mid 16th century with later 16th and 17th century alterations, and was substantially modified in the mid to late 19th century, presumably when it was subdivided into separate cottages.

The structure is built of plastered stone rubble, with some exposed stonework visible to the rear and possibly some cob construction. The chimneys are of stone rubble topped with 20th century brick, and the roof is thatch.

The L-plan building comprises three adjoining small cottages arranged along the hillslope, facing north. The main block runs down the slope with No 1 (The Rookeries) at the uphill end to the west, and No 2 (Lower Deems) at the downhill end to the east. No 1 has a two-room plan with its largest room heated by a projecting gable-end stack. No 2 is a single-room cottage with a gable-end stack and includes a small lobby connecting to No 1. No 3 (Lower Dean) occupies a rear block projecting at right angles behind No 2, also a single-room cottage with a gable-end stack.

The smoke-blackened roof of the main block indicates that the original house was an open hall house of early to mid 16th century date, heated by an open hearth fire. The sequence and timing by which chimneys were inserted and rooms progressively floored over during the mid 16th to mid 17th centuries is unclear due to inaccessible or hidden structural evidence. The heated room in No 1 appears to be an early to mid 17th century parlour. No 3 reportedly contains a large kitchen stack of similar date. Evidence for an original hall and passage is absent. The stack in No 2 is 19th century.

All three cottages are two storeys high. The exterior features an irregular three-window front with 20th century replacement casements with glazing bars, the first-floor windows rising into the thatch. The front doorways of Nos 1 and 2 contain 20th century stable-type doors, with the doorway to No 1 flanked by sloping buttresses. The doorway and windows of No 3 are on the outer east side and are also 20th century. Both roofs are gable-ended with an uneven ridge to the main block.

The interior has been largely obscured by 19th and 20th century modernisations, though Nos 1 and 2 were available for inspection. The parlour fireplace in No 1 is of Beerstone rubble with an ovolo-moulded oak lintel. The main block exhibits no visible ceiling beams. The three-bay main block roof is carried on two side-pegged jointed cruck trusses, both heavily sooted from the original open hearth fire. The western cruck (between the two bedchambers of No 1) is filled with a late 16th to early 17th century oak frame nogged with wattle-and-daub. Some evidence suggests the partition between the main and rear blocks is also oak-framed. No 3 is said to contain a large kitchen fireplace.

These cottages form part of an exceptionally attractive group of traditional thatch-roofed buildings comprising the hamlet of Street.