The Drewe Arms Including Curved Wall Adjoining At North West

The Drewe Arms, Broadhembury

A public house forming part of the Broadhembury Estate, with late medieval origins that were substantially remodelled in the 17th century. The north-west end of the main range was partly rebuilt in the early to mid-18th century, possibly following a fire.

The building is constructed of creamwashed rendered cob and stone. The south-east end of the main range is thatched with a half-hipped roof at the left and gabled at the right. The rear wing is thatched and half-hipped at its end. The north-west end of the main range is slated with a lower ridge line and is gabled at the right end. Three stacks serve the building: a projecting left end stack with a stone shaft featuring ashlar quoins, repaired in brick; an axial stack at the junction between the thatched and slated roofs with a brick shaft; and a projecting right end stack with a brick shaft.

The plan is L-shaped, with a single-depth main range facing north-east and a rear left (south) wing at right angles. The core of the house is a late medieval open hall at the thatched south-east end of the main range. The passage and lower end were partly rebuilt in the early to mid-18th century with different floor levels. The higher (left) end retains one massive smoke-blackened jointed cruck truss with a later roof structure above it. The inner room may always have been storeyed and retains a fine early 16th-century window on the front elevation and was lined with linenfold panelling. The hall was probably floored in the 17th century with a stack introduced backing onto the passage and a ceiling of intersecting beams. The rear wing may have been added at the same time and retains one principal of a curved foot truss with a mortised collar. The ground floor of the lower end is now a cellar with steps down from the through passage; 2 18th-century rooms occupy the first floor, one very large with a massive chimney-piece. A straight stair rises against the rear wall of the lower end from the through passage, and a second stair rises adjacent to the passage within the higher end. The inner room has been subdivided axially into two rooms. These two rooms, together with the 17th-century hall, form the public rooms of the public house and have entirely escaped brewery modernisation. The interior represents the only comparable unspoiled public house interior in Devon comparable to the Drewe Arms at Drewsteignton.

Exterior: Two storeys. An asymmetrical four-window front with regular fenestration. The eaves thatch is eyebrowed over the two left-hand first floor windows; a lower roofline steps down to the slated lower end at the right. A probably 16th-century gabled porch serves the through passage at the left of the slated block. The porch has a wide segmental arched outer doorway, a cusped slit window on the right return, slate-topped porch seats, a wide moulded timber inner doorframe with urn stops, a Tudor arch, and a large 17th or 18th-century plank door. The ground floor window to the left, lighting the former inner room, is a fine 16th-century stone mullioned window with moulded frame and mullions, carved spandrels, saddlebars and stanchions, glazed with square leaded panes. To the left of the porch, lighting the hall, is a tall four-light casement with square leaded panes, with a smaller similar window above. The first floor left features a three-light 20th-century timber casement with glazing bars. The right-hand block, slightly set back, has deep eaves and two first floor early to mid-18th-century paired 18-pane sashes with thick moulded glazing bars; the right-hand window has a moulded frame. A fine, possibly 18th-century wrought iron inn sign incorporates a probably later lamp and armorial bearings crowned with a lion rampant. A probably 18th-century ramped ashlar stone wall adjoins the pub at the right, enclosing the rear courtyard.

Interior: The lower side screen of the through passage is probably 19th-century with chamfered muntins. The 17th-century hall has an open fireplace with a fireback re-lined in brick and a chamfered lintel with mason's mitres. The front part of the room has a ceiling of chamfered intersecting beams. The inner room is divided axially into two with a cross beam surviving in the rear room only. A disused hatch survives between the two smaller rooms. The front room is plain. The lower end rooms, now forming the public house cellar, are unheated with chamfered crossbeams. A small section of linenfold panelling survives on the partition wall of the higher end stair. On the first floor, the two 18th-century rooms of the lower end have massive chimney-pieces. The right-hand room is very large and must have been used for public functions, with a chimney-piece featuring a broken pediment and carved heads. The smaller room has an Adam style chimney-piece with very large-scale detail.

Roof: One medieval side-pegged jointed cruck truss of massive scantling survives over the hall. The front purlins have been truncated to accommodate the window. The rear wing retains the remains of a curved foot truss of circa mid-17th-century date. The lower end trusses are X apex and probably 18th-century.

Historical Context: In 1888, W. H. Hamilton Rogers visited Broadhembury whilst researching a biography of Toplady, author of "Rock of Ages" and vicar of Broadhembury from 1768 to 1778. He described the Drewe Arms, mentioning "an antiquated gateway to the yard in the rear." He and his companion were "ushered through several large rooms into the special parlour for strangers"—evidently the inner room—where they were refreshed with "a dainty spread and sparkling cider, a huge home-made loaf, and a roll of sweet butter, the whole evidently manufactured on the premises." Rogers described the inner room in detail: "Its dimensions are small, but the walls, from floor to ceiling, are wainscotted with multitudinous panels of oak, carved into the well-known linen pattern so much used during the reigns of the 7th and 8th Henrys, and a rich cornice of boldly-carved masks and allegorical devices runs round the top. A large stone window, consisting of a series of narrow Tudor arched openings, and defended from outside intrusion by iron lattice bars of enormous strength, throws a subdued light into the quaint old apartment." It seems likely that most of the linenfold panelling was re-used in Broadhembury House when that building was remodelled by Harbottle Reed sometime between 1903 and 1914.

An extremely interesting building, notable for its high-quality medieval origins, the 18th-century partial rebuilding, and its very rare unspoiled pub interior. It is one of eight closely-spaced medieval houses in the village.