Marine Cottage

Marine Cottage is an early 19th-century detached house situated in Ilfracombe. It is constructed with roughcast cob and stone walls, and has an asbestos slated roof with red ridge tiles. The building has a rectangular, double-fronted plan, likely only one room deep, and is built with a gable end facing Back Way.

The three-storey front elevation, facing east, is two windows wide, with a long, unwindowed section to the right. It features one window on each storey: the ground and third storeys have sashes with three panes per sash, while the second storey has sashes with two panes. A round-arched doorway is located to the right of the ground floor, alongside a sash window to the left. The rear (north) elevation, facing the sea, has a canted wooden bay window on the second storey with a slated pent roof, featuring eight-paned sashes in the centre and four-paned sashes on the sides. A window with a pointed arch is situated on the third storey. The gable has pierced and shaped bargeboards. The west wall has only two windows – one small window with a single pane of glass and another of two lights with a wooden mullion and transom frame.

The interior retains an original staircase with a column newel and square balusters, as well as six-panel doors with moulded frames. Marine Cottage is one of the better-preserved dwellings from the period on the northern slopes of the town, predating the large-scale developments of the late 19th century. It is depicted on Banfield’s map of the 1830s.