Culverwell

Culverwell is a former keeper’s cottage dating to the late 19th century, approximately 1880-90. The construction combines local stone and flint rubble with Bath stone ashlar dressings, featuring stone rubble stacks with Bath stone ashlar chimney shafts, and a slate roof. The building follows a basic L-shaped plan, facing south-east. The left room, the parlour, is designed as a projecting crosswing, set slightly backwards and forward, with an outer lateral stack. The main front block includes a central entrance hall and a left-hand room with an end stack, shared with the kitchen located in a lean-to structure in the angle between the two wings. The main house is two storeys high. The front elevation is deliberately asymmetrical, displaying a 2:1 window arrangement with timber mullion-and-transom windows. These windows have ashlar quoins and chamfered reveals. The first floor has gabled half dormers with shaped kneelers and slate coping, along with further dormers on the other sides of the building. A central front doorway is formed by a two-centred arch leading to the original plank door, which is hung on strap hinges with fleur-de-lys finials. A gabled porch with a two-centred arch outer arch provides shelter. The main roofs are hipped. The interior has not been inspected, but it is believed to retain original joinery detail. Culverwell is one of several attractive 19th-century buildings in Upottery, constructed on the Sidmouth Estate.