Berry House

SS 90 SW THORVERTON BULLEN STREET, Thorverton 8/124 Berry House - 5.4.66 GV II House, divided into 2 dwellings. Colourwashed, plastered and blocked out; slate roof, hipped at ends; left end stack, axial stack to main range, axial stack to rear wing, front lateral stack at left end of main range, heating adjoining block, all with brick shafts. Plan : L plan round a rear courtyard, the main range facing Bullen Street, the rear right wing probably derives from the late C17 inn on the site, the Royal Oak, and a coach entrance in the Bury to the north of Berry House gives access to the courtyard. Single depth main range, 3 rooms wide with an entrance to left of centre into a through passage, the rear door opening into the courtyard. 1 heated room to left of entrance, 2 to right, the right hand room heated by a stack on the rear wall. The stair rises in the rear wing with access from the through passage via an axial rear passage. Part of the rear wing is now a separate property. A single storey block at the left end with a corrugated iron lean-to roof is heated by the lateral stack at the front left corner. Exterior 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 4 bay front with regular fenestration, very deep eaves and a moulded cornice. 2 leaf panelled front door to left of centre with a timber doorcase and rectangular fanlight with glazing bars, sloping slate porch canopy, fenestration of 12-pane sashes. The rear wing has a 3-bay elevation to the Bury with 12-pane sashes. Interior : Features of interest include plaster cornices, chimney-pieces, a stick baluster stair lit by an extremely tall sash stair window facing the courtyard. The rear door to the through passage has a semi-circular lunette. The Royal Oak is documented in 1669 and may have been converted to a house by the Pugh family before 1787. In 1841 the Reverend Coleridge occupied the house while the new vicarage was being completed; in 1860 it became a private school. A photograph of Bullen Street in the Bell Inn shows a small thatched block at right angles to Berry House, adjoining the front at the left. Presumably the odd lateral stack at the left is part of this structure. Notes on the history of the house in the possession of a former owner.

Listing NGR: SS9250402112