Church Gate Cottages

Church Gate Cottages, Molland

A house, possibly originally the church house, now divided into three cottages. Built around 1500 and altered in the early to mid-19th century, with an extension probably added in the 18th century. The building was refenestrated in the mid to late 19th century, and the interior was probably altered at the same time when the house was divided into separate dwellings.

The exterior is constructed of dressed sandstone on the left side, with rendering to the left and right, probably over cob. The eaves are raised, likely in cob. The building has a gabled-ended slate roof, formerly thatched but with the thatch removed in the late 1960s. Rendered stone stacks are present.

The plan is confused due to alterations, but the building probably originally followed a three-room and cross-passage layout. It was a late-Medieval open hall house, formerly consisting of a hall with an inner room to the left and a cross passage to the right with a service room beyond. The house was formerly open to the roof throughout its length, probably divided by low wooden partitions. In the 17th century, alterations included insertion of the first floor, an axial stack at the left-hand end of the probable former hall, and end stacks serving the inner room and service room. The eaves were raised at some point, possibly also in the 17th century. Lean-to additions to the rear are of uncertain date, and a one-roomed addition to the left was probably added in the 18th century.

The building is two storeys. The front elevation is asymmetrically fenestrated with six windows to the first floor and five to the ground floor, all late 19th-century two- and three-light wooden casements. The left-hand ground-floor window has a segmental stone arched head; the second ground-floor window from the left has a 20th-century concrete lintel. A 20th-century half-glazed door stands between the first and second ground-floor windows from the left, beneath a flat stone arch. A rendered door of partly old boarded construction with a pegged wooden frame and a 20th-century gabled porch lies between the second and third windows from the left. A boarded door with a glazed panel stands between the first and second windows on the right, approached by 20th-century concrete steps. The probable 18th-century addition to the left has an old boarded door with strap hinges.

Interior features recorded during a partial survey in July 1987 include the putative hall on the ground floor of the centre cottage, which contains a 17th-century deep-chamfered cross beam and half beam. Stairs to the rear of the hall were probably inserted later. A cupboard under the stairs retains H-L hinges. The ground floor of the right-hand cottage contains a plastered chamfered spine beam with run-out stops. Windows in the ground-floor room to the left of the right-hand door in the right-hand cottage have window seats and jambs wider than the present casements, suggesting earlier fenestration. The right-hand bedroom of the left-hand cottage has an 18th-century wall cupboard with raised and fielded panels.

The roof structure is largely complete and heavily smoke-blackened, though only the right-hand side was inspected at the time of survey. Two smoke-blackened trusses were noted, possibly jointed crucks, one to the left-hand side of the cross passage in the right-hand cottage and the other to its left, possibly at the division between the centre and right-hand cottage. Each truss features a cambered collar, with the right-hand one possibly arch-braced, and notched mortice and tenoned apexes. The Medieval roof also includes trenched purlins and a diagonally-set ridge-piece. A large number of smoke-blackened rafters and battens survive. Mortices in the underside of the collar of the right-hand truss suggest it was closed at some point, though the smoke-blackening on both sides indicates this was not its original state. A later truss stands between the Medieval trusses.

This is a substantial Medieval house of uncertain plan that does not appear to have been a farmhouse. It stands close to the Church of Saint Mary and may have been the church house. It merits further investigation.