The Old Church House

The Old Church House is a late 16th-century house and shop, with later alterations, reputedly once the Church House. It is largely constructed of cob with rubble and stone footings, roughcast to the front, and has a thatched roof forming a continuous catslide and an outshut to the rear. The rear outbuildings, facing Tiverton Road, are similarly built, with some brick and breezeblock patching. The house likely originally comprised a three-room, through-passage plan, with a hall and parlour to the right of the now-blocked passage, and an extension added around 1600 to the upper end; the lower end was rebuilt, possibly in the early 19th century. There are two axial brick chimney stacks; the stack to the left serves the hall and backs onto the former passage, while the one to the right heats the parlour and was likely originally an end stack.

The front elevation has an irregular arrangement of windows. The upper floor features six 2- and 3-light windows with 19th and 20th-century casements, with lintels at eaves level. An oriel window, with 1:4:1 lights, ovolo-moulded mullions and surround, and leaded panes, is situated on the right side, retaining an original catch. The ground floor has 3- and 4-light casement windows, with the left window likely occupying the position of the former passage. A 20th-century shop window is located to the right of the present entrance. The rear of the house features two 2-light chamfered window frames to the first floor, one with stanchions and the other not in situ. 19th-century outbuildings are also present at the rear.

Inside, the room in the 1600 extension has two axial beams, one chamfered and with pyramid stops. The hall and parlour, now a single room, have deeply chamfered cross beams, also with pyramid stops. The left-hand room at the lower end has two chamfered step-stopped beams. Four jointed crucks, three in the hall and parlour and one in the right-hand room, have morticed and pegged apexes and trenched purlins, with collars replaced. There is no evidence of smoke-blackening. The chamber above the oriel window retains its plaster ceiling, which is adorned with a single pattern of a central square with concave sides and lateral units each containing a rampant lion, along with a central floral design and floral motifs at the outer points. The house was discussed by Copeland in Trans. Devonshire Association, 93 (1961), 261-2.