Elm Terrace

TIVERTON

SS9512 LEAT STREET, Tiverton 848-1/6/208 (West side) 20/04/77 Nos.1-11 (Consecutive) Elm Terrace

GV II

Terrace of 11 industrial houses including archway to the Heathcote estate office (separately listed as the Estate Office, No.9, qv), built for John Heathcoat. Probably c1860 but some of the terrace has evidence of rebuilding and the core may be earlier. The archway to the estate office appears to have been knocked through the terrace in the later C19. EXTERIOR: Flemish bond red brick; slate roof hipped at left end (No.1); stacks with brick shafts with platbands and various old chimneypots, some tapered and some crowned. Cast-iron rainwater goods and cast-iron sills which were fabricated in Heathcoat's factory. Georgian style. PLAN: long terrace along Leat Street, opposite Heathcoat's lace-making manufactory. Blocked openings and relieving arches in the front elevation (Nos 2, 3, 5 & 6) suggest that the terrace is, in part, a conversion from an earlier range on the site. An archway through to the Estate Office is probably c1880s and the end terrace house (No.11) has had c1870s alterations. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys. 3:3:2:3:2:2:2:2:1:3:2-window front. All windows except those of No.11 are 16-pane timber hornless sashes. Mixture of double-fronted and single-fronted houses. No.1 is double-fronted with a good pilastered doorcase with cornice and a smart 6-panel front door, the upper panels fielded, with an overlight with glazing bars. There is a blind recess above the front door. No.2 has no doorcase but a similar front door. No.3 has a doorcase similar to No.1. The rest of the terrace houses have no doorcases to the front doors. The archway to the Estate office is gabled to the front with a 16-pane sashes in the gable and the entrance to No.9 under the archway. No.11 has two 4-pane sashes to the left and a two-tier canted bay window to the right with plate glass sash windows with glazing bars. No.11 is entered on the north end return, which is rendered, with a gabled porch of the c1870s with a timber front door with glazed trefoil-headed panels. INTERIOR: not inspected but may retain features of interest. HISTORY: Heathcoat's housing programme in the West Exe area was remarkable in national terms. Brayshay argues that, unlike contemporary factory owners, Heathcoat did not tie his workforce to rented accommodation which was available as an option. Workers could live in other accommodation if they chose, and some of his houses, which were built on a generous scale, were rented out to tenants who did not work for him. Elm Terrace is one example of many houses in West Exe of a Georgian manner, built by Heathcoat over a long period of time. (Southern History: Brayshay M: Heathcoat's Industrial Housing in Tiverton, Devon: 1991-: PP.82-104).

Listing NGR: SS9501012899