Thorverton

House. Dating from the 18th century, with some late 19th-century alterations, it may also incorporate elements of an earlier building on the same site. The front is colourwashed rendered cob on stone rubble footings, while the rear wing has a timber-framed structure with brick infill. The roof is slate, with gables at each end and a gable on the rear wing, and chimneys with brick shafts; the right-end stack projects, and a large projecting lateral stack serves the rear wing.

The house originally consisted of a single-depth main range, three rooms wide, with a central entrance leading to a hall containing a gabled turret that houses the main staircase. The principal rooms are situated to the left and right of the hall. A rear right kitchen wing extends at a right angle to the main range, and is heated by a lateral stack. The main range has been extended to the rear, bringing the rear elevation flush with the stair turret. This extension includes a service stair next to the main stair and a late 19th-century glazed garden room under a catslide roof to the rear left.

The front elevation is symmetrical with seven bays and deep eaves supported by moulded brackets above a cove. A wide 20th-century porch with Doric columns and a cornice shelters a panelled front door, which has glazed top panels and an eared architrave. The windows are 12-pane sashes. The rear elevation features a gabled stair turret with a large, multi-paned rectangular stair window. The late 19th-century garden room on the right side of the turret is mostly glazed, overlooking the garden. A large lateral stack on the right return of the kitchen wing may originate from a 17th-century building phase.

Internally, 18th-century joinery remains, including shutters and doors. A pleasing principal staircase has slender turned balusters and a square newel post. Original stone-pitted flooring remains beneath boarded floors in parts of the kitchen wing. The roof of the kitchen wing has pegged apex collar rafter trusses dating back to the 18th century; similar trusses are said to survive in the main range.

Historical records indicate that Thorverton was formerly part of the Pynes Estate and was previously known as Pynes Tenement. It is a substantial house located on Silver Street, slightly set back from the road and forming a prominent group with other detached houses.