The Priest House

The Priest House is a former church house dating to the early or mid 16th century, with a 19th-century stable extension and a careful restoration undertaken by the Landmark Trust circa 1984. It is constructed of exposed local rubble stone with stone rubble stacks and chimneyshafts, and has a slate roof, previously thatched. The building faces northeast onto a lane connecting Fore Street to the Church of All Saints, with the right-hand end encroaching into the churchyard and the rear backing onto the grounds of Holcombe Court. Originally a 3-room plan, the precise layout and development are difficult to determine due to alterations and periods of neglect over the centuries. It is a 2-story building.

The front elevation has an irregular arrangement of four ground-floor and two first-floor windows, all oak-framed with chamfered mullions containing rectangular panes of leaded glass. These windows are mostly 20th-century replacements, though some incorporate restored 16th- or 17th-century elements. The current front door, located to the left of centre, has a plain oak frame and a 20th-century plank door. A doorway to the right has been blocked, and the original entrance is unknown. A plain dripcourse runs across the front below the first-floor windows. The roof is gable-ended, stepping down in level to meet the blind front wall of the 19th-century stable extension. The right-hand gable-end, facing the churchyard, has a blocked first-floor doorway. The rear windows are similar in style to those on the front.

The interior was not inspected during the survey, but is known to have been thoroughly restored circa 1984. Ground-floor oak plank-and-muntin partitions have been rebuilt, confirmed by the surviving headbeams, and new oak has been incorporated into the ceiling timbers. The outer rooms feature soffit-chamfered axial beams, while the centre room has a 4-panel ceiling of moulded intersecting beams. Both fireplaces have oak lintels; the left room’s is reputedly the largest in Devon, spanning the full width of the room. The roof structure, previously unverified by inspection, is reported to be supported by four clean side-pegged jointed crucks, the left-hand (south-eastern) one filled with wattle and daub. The Priest House is a well-restored building occupying a prominent position near Holcombe Court and the Church of All Saints.