Thornbank

CULMSTOCK FORE STREET, Culmstock ST 11 SW 10/52 Thornbank - GV II House. C16 or C17 origins, refurbished, rearranged and enlarged in the mid C19. Plastered stone rubble, maybe with cob; stone rubble stacks with C19 brick; slate roof, probably thatch before the mid C19. Plan and development: originally a 3-room-and-through-passage plan house set back from the street and facing north. Although heavily refurbished the basic plan form remains. At the left (east) end is a small unheated inner room. The former hall and service end room both have rear lateral stacks. In the mid C19 service rear blocks were built at right angles behind each end (that to left with an outer lateral stack) and a new stairblock built behind the passage in between the rear blocks. Too little of the early carpentry shows for an accurate assessment of the historic development of the house before the mid C19. Nevertheless it seems likely that the house began as some form of open hall house. The hall was floored over in the C17. The house is 2 storeys. Exterior: regular but not symmetrical 4-window front of mid C19 casements with glazing bars margin panes. The passage front doorway is right of centre and contains a mid C19 6-panel door behind a contemporary timber porch; panelled square- section posts and moulded entablature. The plaster front is incised as ashlar. Plain eaves and roof is hipped each end. More similar casements to rear. Interior: is largely the result of mid C19 refurbishment and most of the joinery details dates from then. The only earlier feature exposed is the C17 hall crossbeam; it is soffit-chamfered with scroll stops. The hall fireplace has been rebuilt with C19 brick. The pre-C19 plan is preserved and therefore earlier carpentry detail probably survives behind C19 plaster. The roof was not available for inspection at the time of this survey although the owner claims that some (jointed?) cruck timbers survive. Thornbank forms part of a group of attractive listed buildings in the vicinity of the Church of All Saints (q.v). Although it seems likely that there are C16 and C17 features hidden in the house it must be recognised that much of the character of this house is the result of its mid C19 refurbisnment.

Listing NGR: ST1015013488