Bell Cottages

Bell Cottages is a house located on Bell Hill in Bickleigh, with origins dating back to the 17th century, an addition from the 18th century, and renovations and an addition from the 20th century. The building is whitewashed and rendered, featuring a thatched roof that is hipped at the right end and gabled at the left end, with a gabled projection at the right end. It has an axial stack with a brick shaft.

The main range of the house has a 17th-century room on the right, which is heated by the axial stack, and a 20th-century addition on the left. The accommodation extends to the rear at right angles to the main range under a separate roof, adjoining No 2 Bell Cottages. The gabled projection at the right end is said to have had an 18th-century datestone on the gable and was likely used as a Post Office when it was in operation. A 20th-century porch is located at the right end, in the angle between the main range and the projection.

The building is two storeys high and has a four-window east elevation with 20th-century casements featuring glazing bars. The elevation facing the road shows the blank right end wall of the main range to the left, along with a 20th-century lean-to porch with a slated roof. The gabled projection on the right has one ground floor and one first floor two-light casement, each with two panes per light. To the right of the projection, adjoining No 2 Bell Cottages, there is one two-light casement with two panes per light and one ground floor one-light window with two panes.

Inside, the right-hand room features an open fireplace with a 17th-century lintel that has scroll stops, along with a chamfered scroll-stopped cross beam. The door leading into the gabled projection is chamfered and pegged, with run-out stops and a three-plank door. A sale catalogue from 1922 mentions that "the tenant claims the partitioning in the living room to screen off the Post Office, the tailor's stove in the tailor's workshop, and a wood and iron linhay in the garden." Bell Cottages is part of a group of thatched cottages on Bell Hill.