57, Bampton Street

57 Bampton Street, Tiverton

A large building now used primarily as offices for Tiverton Hospital administration. Dating from the 17th century with significant alterations made in the 19th century in the style of architect G.A. Boyce, the building is constructed of coursed local purple stone rubble, possibly originally lime-plastered, with a roughcast rear elevation. The roof is peg-tile with an axial brick stack.

The plan follows a traditional 3 room and through-passage arrangement with the lower end to the right. The hall and inner room were originally heated by rear lateral stacks. Evidence suggests a former stair once rose around the main end stack, with the possible position of the main stair to the rear hall located in the rear central extension.

The exterior displays 2 storeys with a wing containing an attic storey. The front elevation is asymmetrical with 6 windows, the sixth bay being a 19th-century addition slightly broken forward and gabled to the front. Each storey and the attic contain a mullioned window within this bay. An 18th-century doorcase features fielded panelled reveals, a cornice, and a pointed arch frieze over the door. The jambs display bolection moulding with stops, though these are partially concealed by later repair work. The original 17th-century panelled door retains planted moulding, studs, and fleur-de-lys hinges, along with a large timber lock box and various pieces of historic door furniture.

Windows throughout are 6- and 4-light mullions, some with high transoms, margin panes, and geometric glazing bars. Early 19th-century stained glass appears in some windows. The mullions are moulded externally but flat-faced internally. The rear left wing has a natural slate roof, and remains of a frame and 2 mullions from an ovolo-moulded mullioned window survive on the rear wall of this wing.

The interior of the rear left wing dates to the 17th century. Ground-floor features include moulded hall ceiling beams with bar scroll stops and beams with chamfered stops in the cross passage and rear wing. In the inner room, a beam has been boxed in. A 17th-century doorframe with moulded stops marks the position of a former inner room stair. Two first-floor left-hand rooms retain 17th-century plaster cornices, these rooms having formerly been a single space. The first floor preserves 17th-century moulded stop doorways, including a depressed Tudor arched doorway.

Early 18th-century features include 2 panelled doors, a cupboard with fielded doors and H-hinges, door frames, and a short section of Chinese Chippendale balustrade. The inner room contains an Edwardian oak chimneypiece. Joinery throughout includes 18th- and 19th-century doors.

The roof space reveals that the left end wall is constructed of cob with a brick gable. The roof contains 4 trusses with lap dovetail collars and straight principals; one is broken and has been augmented with secondary timbers. The ridge, now missing, was originally diagonally set. Purlins were originally trenched, though a small section of the original purlin survives at the rear left end of the ridge. The second truss from the left appears to be a jointed cruck with the elbow of the cruck cut away. One principal has been re-used with a mortise for a former collar. The third truss is a jointed cruck with mortises for an earlier collar. The fourth truss, located within a partition, is possibly a 17th-century lap dovetail with no mortises for an earlier collar. The fifth and sixth trusses are jointed crucks, with the latter positioned at the right end wall. The rear left wing contains 2 jointed cruck trusses. Carpenters' assembly marks are visible on all trusses.