Eastchurch Farmhouse And Adjoining Cottage

Eastchurch Farmhouse and adjoining cottage is a large, multi-phase building dating from the late 15th to early 16th century, with significant alterations in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries and a 20th-century subdivision. The main farmhouse is constructed of plastered cob on rubble footings, with granite stacks; two are topped with 20th-century blockwork, and the roof is now slate (formerly thatched). It presents as an L-shaped building.

The main block, facing west, follows a three-room-and-through-passage plan, with an inner room at the north end and a secondary parlour block behind the inner room. An 18th-century extension created a second room to the service end, which now forms a separate cottage. The building has hall, axial, and gable-end stacks, with a full-height cob crosswall on the lower side of the passage. It is two storeys throughout. The front has seven windows, predominantly 19th and 20th-century wooden and iron casements, which vary in size and are irregularly placed; most have glazing bars. Doors to the house and cottage are located behind 20th-century slate-roofed porches, and two first-floor windows are leaded. A small, single-light window on the first floor to the left of the main door retains a 17th-century oak frame. The roof is gable-ended to the left, hipped to the right. A 16th-century hall chimney shaft is constructed of granite ashlar with moulded coping. Rear elevations display 20th-century casements.

The interior retains several original features. The original roof over the hall, inner room, and passage remains, supported by three jointed cruck trusses (face-pegged with slip-tenon jointing) with cambered collars, bearing marks from a historic open heath fire. An oak plank-and-muntin screen, with a chamber over a small inner room oversailing into the hall on a deep internal jetty, is located at the upper end of the hall (the rear side is exposed). A 16th-century granite ashlar fireplace with an oak lintel and chamfered surround is in the lower end of the hall. The hall was re-floored in the late 16th and early 17th centuries with crossbeams, chamfered with step stops. A newel stair with solid oak treads was built to the left of the fireplace, and its oak doorframe is ovolo moulded with stepped stops. First-floor doorways off the landing are chamfered with step stops, including a contemporary plank door with strap hinges. An early 17th-century remodelling added a two-story parlour wing. A large oak winder stair was inserted to the rear of the inner room, and adjacent to the rear block. An ovolo-moulded door frame with urn stops provides entry from the hall. Contemporary door frames to the inner room and parlour are chamfered with scroll stops. The rear block features chamfered crossbeams with step stops and matching 19th-century replacement joists, along with a granite fireplace with an oak lintel. Roof access is not possible.

Later 17th and early 18th century joinery is also present, including two cupboard doors in the hall, a fielded panel on butterfly hinges in the back wall, a scratch-moulded two-panel door on H hinges in the front wall, and doors either side of the passage with solid oak bead-moulded surrounds. The service end (cottage) mostly has 20th-century fittings, though a reused 16th-century beam is visible in the end room. The building is considered a good example of a multi-phase Devon farmhouse; it was likely the home of Walter Byestecherch in 1330.