Buildings To Rear Of Numbers 27 And 28 Boutport Street

BUILDINGS TO REAR OF NUMBERS 27 AND 28 BOUTPORT STREET, BARNSTAPLE

Two ranges of houses forming a back court behind Nos 27 and 28 Boutport Street. Dating to the early 18th century, possibly slightly later than the frontage buildings themselves, the brickwork suggests the two ranges differ marginally in date from each other.

The ranges are three storeys with semi-basement. The left range is painted brick with a rear south gable wall of exposed yellowish-brown brick, built in Flemish bond and slated with an original chimney at the rear left-hand corner, its top rebuilt. It is a five-window range with all openings segmental-headed except the third storey, which has flat heads. Windows are 6-paned sashes in recessed box-frames with flat heads; the second window from the left in the third storey has been altered. The right-hand and second and third windows from the left in the second storey are blind, as are the right-hand and middle windows of the third storey. The middle opening of the ground storey contains a 20th-century door. Raised brick bands mark the first and second floor levels. Its position abutting the very edge of the windows in the rear wall of Nos 27 and 28 suggests it may be a slightly later addition.

The right range, heavily painted, appears to be in English bond with a rendered rear gable. It is a four-window range with windows more widely spaced than the opposite range. Ground-storey windows have slightly curved heads; those in upper storeys are segmental-headed. All contain flat-headed sashes of 8 panes in the ground storey and 6 panes above, in recessed box frames except for the left-hand ground-storey window, which has a concealed frame. At the left-hand end of each upper storey is a small 6-paned casement window, probably a later insertion. The ground storey has an original segmental-headed doorway at the left end with a moulded 19th-century door and frame, the latter with two sunk panels below and two glazed panes above. The third bay from the right has a doorway with a 4-panel door and boarded-in fanlight, above it a flat moulded hood on plain brackets. Between the first and second bays from the right is a 20th-century door, probably a later insertion, as is the shop window in the right-hand bay. The range has shaped asbestos slates except for a fringe of pantiles on the rear gable. Raised brick bands mark the first and second floor levels.

The long rear wall of the right range faces north and is rendered. It contains four windows with barred sashes, including two old ones at the right-hand west end of the second and third storeys. Off-centre to the right in the third storey is an old fixed-sash window of 20 panes. At the left end of the ground storey is an old wooden window-frame, probably 16th-century and reset; it comprises two round-headed, almost pointed, lights and appears to be moulded on the inner face.

The interiors have been inspected.

At the rear of the left range is a yellow brick building of late 19th or early 20th-century date (not included in the listing). Behind it to the east is a section of early boundary wall of stone rubble with cob at the top, capped with pantiles.

Loverings Court has been extended and widened at the east end to accommodate a late 20th-century housing development. It is one of the last and also the earliest in date of the back courts once common in Barnstaple.