Taw Vale Terrace Rear Yard And Garden Walls And Adjoining Stable Block

Two adjoining houses, with garden walls and stable blocks, were likely built around 1830 as part of a development associated with the Taw Valley Railway Company and the Railway Inn. The houses were built on land bought by the railway company. They consist of a left-hand pair of four houses built together. The construction is of local volcanic trap rubble, with the front elevations stuccoed and the remainder roughcast. The roofs are slate, and the chimneys have brick shafts.

Each house is L-shaped, with a two-room layout, a central entrance, and a projecting rear lavatory wing. Rear service wings extend at right angles, their roofs parallel to the main blocks. The east front of each villa is symmetrical with three bays, featuring deep eaves supported by brackets. No. 4 has a plain clasping pilaster on the left end, and No. 3 has rusticated quoins. Each house has a central Tuscan doorcase, matching the Railway Inn, with panelled reveals and steps leading to six-panel front doors, with flush lower panels and glazed upper panels. Original sash windows are present throughout, with 16 panes except for the first-floor centre window, which has 12 panes. The outer returns, with two gables, are complete with original sash windows and panelled doors leading to the service areas, featuring doorcases with pilasters and flat porch hoods. Small, multi-pane windows with margin glazing are found in the rear centre stairwell, cut across by the staircase.

The enclosed rear service yards are also complete, enclosed by tall, unrendered local volcanic trap walls, with rear doorways leading to the walled rear gardens. These gardens each have a doorway off Four Mills Lane. Two stable blocks adjoin the service wing of No. 3 at the rear. They are roofed parallel to the carriageway, each with a carriage door and two loft doors above. The carriageway retains remnants of pitched stone paving.

The interior of No. 4 was inspected and remains largely complete, featuring decorative plaster cornices and plasterwork arches in the entrance passage and service wing. Original joinery includes skirtings, panelled doors, and shutters. A marble chimney-piece is in the front left room, and a stick baluster staircase has a mahogany handrail. Comparison with No. 1 suggests that each villa had slightly different finishing details.

The survival of the overall development plan, alongside Nos. 1 & 2, all the ancillary walls, and stables, is particularly notable and rare.