Acorn House And Acorn Cottage

House and adjoining cottage, formerly a single building, probably dating from the 18th century with 20th-century renovations.

The construction employs unusual materials. A photograph taken when the render was stripped from the front elevation of Acorn Cottage reveals local stone rubble up to approximately first-floor level, which serves as a plinth for a timber-stud frame infilled with cob bricks. The rest of the range may be constructed in the same way. Acorn Cottage contains an internal framed partition wall with cob brick infill, and at least part of the axial stack of Acorn House is also constructed of cob bricks. The exterior is whitewashed and rendered. The roof is thatched, half-hipped at the left end and gabled at the right end. There is an axial stack with brick shaft at the centre, a right-end stack with brick shaft, and some evidence for a former left-end stack.

The plan consists of a single-depth main range three rooms wide: two rooms form Acorn House (to the left) and one room forms Acorn Cottage (to the right), with adjacent front doors positioned right of centre. The front door of Acorn House faces a straight stair; the front door to Acorn Cottage leads directly into the heated room with the stair opposite. The division of the range into two dwellings has partly obscured the original plan. The stair to the attic storey is shared between the two buildings. A single-storey, one-room plan addition of 20th-century date is located at the right end of Acorn Cottage. A two-storey block under a lower roofline at the left end of Acorn House is said to have been converted from a former outbuilding.

The exterior is two storeys with an attic. A tall asymmetrical five-window front features deep eaves carried on plain timber brackets. Two recessed adjacent front doors stand right of centre, flanked by engaged columns. The right-hand column is crowned with an acorn; the other two are topped with what appear to be re-used stone finials, though a thick coat of whitewash obscures the details. The front doors have fielded panels. Twelve-pane sashes on either side of the doors have shutters, with twelve-pane first-floor sashes above them. The remaining first-floor and ground-floor windows are of various sizes and glazing designs. A first-floor two-pane sash in Acorn Cottage is probably in an 18th or early 19th-century embrasure. There is also a mysterious small rectangular recess with timber jambs, lintel and sill on the first floor of Acorn House, blocked internally with lath and plaster. The right return of Acorn Cottage, facing the Dolphin, has one first-floor twelve-pane sash and one attic-storey casement. The rear elevation features a round-headed sash stair window to Acorn House with margin glazing and a thatched attic dormer lighting the attic storey.

Interior open fireplaces with stone-rubble jambs and timber lintels (largely rebuilt) serve both Acorn House and Acorn Cottage. The stair in Acorn House has stick balusters and a turned newel post. Some 18th-century joinery survives in both buildings. Acorn Cottage retains part of an exposed timber frame and cob-infill internal partition wall; Acorn House has a cob brick stack.

The roof apex was not accessible at the time of survey in 1986, but sawn principal rafters of slender scantling suggest a 19th-century or later date.

This is an intriguing range in the centre of Thorverton. It has been suggested that these buildings may formerly have been part of the Dolphin Inn and extended to occupy part of the open space between it and the Dolphin. Renovations at Acorn Cottage have revealed a cellar partly under the pavement that may have been associated with brewing for the Dolphin.

Whilst cob brick construction is reputed to exist in Bradninch, Thorverton is unique in Devon to date in having a handful of cob-brick houses. This range is the only listed building in Devon known to make use of cob bricks and is of exceptional interest for this reason.