Exeland Cottage

Exeland Cottage is a cottage, probably dating from the early to mid-18th century, with later additions in the 19th century and 20th-century renovations. The external walls are whitewashed stone rubble, and the roof is thatched with a plain ridge, half-hipped at the left end and hipped at the right. An axial stack to the left of the centre heats the left-hand room. A former axial stack to the right of the centre has been dismantled.

The original layout is now obscured by internal alterations, but it may have been a single-depth, two-room-wide arrangement with a through passage (with a rear entrance opposite the front door) and a hall or kitchen to the right, heated from the dismantled stack, and a smaller, unheated service room to the left. A slightly projecting, single-room plan addition at the left end, with a separate entrance and a lower floor level, is heated by the left-hand axial stack and may originally have been an outbuilding. A single-storey addition at the right end is accessed under the lintel of the former right-hand fireplace. The original partition separating the passage no longer exists.

The cottage is two storeys high and has an asymmetrical three-window front, with the left end slightly projecting, and an adjoining lean-to. The eaves of the thatched roof sweep down over the single-storey addition at the right end. The front door is approximately central to the original range, sheltered by a thatched porch canopy. There are two 2-light ground-floor windows and two 2-light first-floor windows, all with 20th-century diamond-leaded panes. The left-hand addition has a door on the left and a similar casement window on the right. The right-hand addition has a single, similar casement window.

Internally, the cottage has largely been modernized. The former hall/kitchen retains a 18th-century cross beam with run-out stops and a similar fireplace lintel. The extreme left-hand room has a rough cross beam. A visible roof truss over the right-hand end of the range has straight principals pegged and mortised at the apex.

Exeland Cottage is situated on the hillside, adjacent to the roadside leading north out of Bickleigh. It has group value with the nearby Church and Old School House.