27, Downeshead Lane

House and adjoining barn at 27 Downeshead Lane, Crediton. The house dates from circa 1730 and has been replanned internally. The barn probably dates from the late 17th century with several phases of alteration.

The house is built in Flemish bond brick on local stone rubble footings, with the rear elevation partly roughcast. It has a hipped slate roof laid in diminishing courses, and end stacks with brick shafts. The barn is partly cob, partly stone, and partly painted brick, with a thatched roof gabled at the ends.

The house has a single-depth plan, two rooms wide with a central entrance facing the stair. Evidence suggests that the left-hand room was originally smaller and had a service room to the rear, with the main entrance originally leading directly into a larger room to the right, where the stair rose against the rear wall. A single-storey service room set back at the right end has been raised to two storeys, probably in the 1930s or 1940s. The adjoining barn has three bays.

The house is of two storeys with a symmetrical three-bay front plus one window to the right end addition. A central four-panel door has lower panels that are flush, with the upper panels replaced with glass, and a simple moulded doorcase. A curved corrugated asbestos porch hood sits on probably late 19th-century plain cast iron brackets.

The left-hand ground floor window is an original early 18th-century three-light casement with bead-moulded mullions, square leaded panes and original window furniture. The ground floor right and first floor window above it are circa 1940s in a matching style to the original. The first floor window left is a probably 19th-century three-light timber casement with two panes per light. The first floor centre window is a two-light casement with square leaded panes. The left-hand addition has one ground and one first floor 20th-century window.

Interior features that survive from the replanning include fitted cupboards set into both end walls. A number of two-panel early 18th-century doors survive, some clearly re-sited but likely to originate from the house. A small section of dado panelling is adjacent to the front door.

The barn was originally lofted, but the loft floor is missing. The south elevation has a large, partly blocked doorway to the left and a probably 18th-century originally unglazed window to the right. The rear elevation, overlooking Buller Square, is of painted brick and has a probably 18th-century door of wide planks to the right of centre. The interior shows evidence of considerable rebuilding. The east end wall, abutting No 4 Buller Square, is partly cob but with a full-height section of stone to the left. The roof trusses are heavily-repaired A-frames, with collars pegged directly onto the principals, the pegs augmented with large nails. The front feet of the principals rest on a wall plate on the brickwork, which has also been repaired.

The house may be the earliest brick building in Crediton. It was formerly owned by the Downes Estate and is said to have been lived in by the estate blacksmith. The barn was probably built as an open-fronted linhay before being adapted in connection with No 27, and it forms an important element in the courtyard plan of the Buller Square group, parts of which are probably late 16th century.