Numbers 1-14 Including Boundary Walls And Railings At East And West Ends Of Square And Garden Gates

Heathcoat Square, Tiverton: Numbers 1-14 with Boundary Walls, Railings and Garden Gates

Two terraces of seven working-class or artisans' houses each, arranged on the north and south sides of a square, with the east and west ends enclosed by low boundary walls. Dating from circa 1820s–1844, the square represents a significant survival of industrial housing associated with John Heathcoat's lace manufacturing enterprise in Tiverton.

The north range was severely damaged by fire in 1919 but has been restored. Originally the north range appears to have been of unrendered stone rubble; it now has rendered solid walls with a series of iron tie bars visible in the third storey. The south range is of rendered solid walls. Both ranges have slated roofs with no chimneys.

The buildings are three storeys tall with double-fronted, almost certainly double-depth plans. The third storeys are recorded as having been separately occupied originally; that of the north range was accessed by an external staircase at the west end in 1919. Each front has two windows with a centre doorway. Nos 1–7 (south side) retain original 4-panelled doors with raised and fielded upper panels featuring ovolo moulded surrounds and flush lower panels. Nos 8–14 have 20th-century flush wooden doors, except Nos 12 and 13 which retain original 4-flush-panel doors with cast-iron knockers. Most doorways have flat arches; those at Nos 9, 12, 13 and 14 are segmental.

Windows throughout both ranges are box-framed sashes with frames almost flush with the rendering. The sashes are 2-paned with a single upright glazing bar, all set on cast-iron sills. A shaped cast-iron plaque reading HEATHCOAT SQUARE is fixed to the wall at No. 1 on the left end of the second storey.

The boundary wall at the east end is of red brick. The section south of the path has a coping of chamfered red tiles; the northern section has a curved cast-iron coping topped by a 19th-century iron railing with moulded finials to the standards. The walls have been repaired with 20th-century brick in several places. The west boundary wall is of stone rubble with a tiled coping in its northern section (like that at the east end but ramped against the house face) and a rendered stone rubble coping in the southern section. Garden gate boundaries now feature 20th-century wire fences with wooden gate-posts, though patterned iron gates appear to be 19th-century; the gate at No. 14 retains an old cast-iron number plate.

The square is shown as John Heathcoat's property in his estate atlas of 1844, when it was called Quick's Court (a name still appearing on the 25-inch Ordnance Survey Map of 1888). The contemporary layout shows 14 houses on each side with 2 additional dwellings set back at the east end of the north side, and a small building against the western boundary wall. No entrance existed at the west end, as John Street had not yet been laid out; access from Leat Street was apparently further north. The present west entrance, created by Heathcoat, involved demolishing a house. The number of houses was reduced to the present total of 14 sometime between the 1851 and 1861 censuses; whether the buildings were remodelled or rebuilt during this period is unknown.

Census returns from 1841–1881 show a high proportion of lace workers among occupants, alongside some shoemakers and other craftsmen not employed in Heathcoat's factory. The square's origins remain debated: while land tax assessments of 1830 and 1832 record "14 Cottages in the Square" under Heathcoat's ownership, possibly rented from Thomas Quick (d. 1831), a woollen manufacturer, some sources suggest the square may date to as early as 1816 to accommodate Heathcoat's Loughborough workers. Rentals from the 1820s in the Knightshayes Estate Office (Heathcoat Rent Book, 1823–34) are cited as evidence. The top storey may originally have been used for looms or workshops, with upper storeys converted to extra accommodation accessible by external staircases, though documentary support for this is unclear. By the 1860s a lean-to bakery is recorded at the end of the row.

This represents a very significant survival of industrial housing of this type, particularly in regional and national context.