Jessamine Cottage, Tudor Cottage and Foxes

House, divided into three cottages, situated on the north side of Jericho Street in Thorverton. Probably dating from the early 16th century and remodelled in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, with late 20th-century renovations. The building is whitewashed and rendered, constructed probably of cob on stone rubble footings, with a tiled roof (formerly thatched) and gables at the ends. It features a massive projecting front lateral stack with set-offs and brick shafts, a right end stack with brick shaft, and a front corner stack at the left end with a brick shaft projecting through the roof.

The plan is U-shaped, comprising a single-depth main range facing Jericho Street. Originally a three-room and through-passage plan house, it has been subsequently divided into three cottages: the lower end (Foxes) to the left, the hall in the centre (Tudor Cottage), and the inner room (No 9) to the right. The building appears likely to have been an open hall house, though this remains unproven due to lack of roof-space access at the time of survey in 1986. The thin rear walls of both the lower end and inner rooms may indicate early rear left and right wings. The hall is heated by a front lateral stack adjacent to a hall bay, the inner room by the right end stack, and the lower end by a front left corner stack which may be a 18th-century addition. The inner room has been extended to the rear.

The exterior is two storeys with an asymmetrical four-window front. A Tudor arched moulded door frame to the left of centre leads to the through passage, now a common entrance to Foxes and Tudor Cottage, and features a plank door with strap hinges. A 20th-century door to No 9 is positioned to the right of the hall projection. Various two- and three-light timber casements with glazing bars are present, including a 17th-century moulded frame to the first floor window of the hall bay with a later casement inserted, a late 19th-century bay window to the left of the lateral stack with casement windows and glazing bars, and a small one-light window on the left side of the lateral stack.

The interior includes a higher end plank and muntin screen to the passage, partly renewed, with the lower end screen entirely of 20th-century date. A second plank and muntin screen is exposed between the hall and inner room, and unusually, a plank and muntin screen forms the rear partition wall of the inner room (No 9). The 17th-century hall, though not fully inspected during the 1986 survey, is fairly complete with a moulded crossbeam and open fireplace. Foxes contains a roughly-chamfered crossbeam with step stops, with a fireplace featuring a plain lintel and stone jambs. No 9 has deeply chamfered axial beams, one of the stops truncated by the fireplace which has been rebuilt. The screen to the rear of the room has a moulded head beam and chamfered muntins with bar stops.

The roof of No 9 is stated to be 20th-century. Foxes features a side-pegged jointed cruck roof construction, though the apex was not accessible at the time of the 1986 survey. The roof space of Tudor Cottage was not inspected but may, like Foxes, contain medieval roof structure. The range is an attractive feature in Jericho Street with numerous points of architectural interest.