Swallows, Merlins Cottage, Bakers And Muffets And Wrens Cottage

Range of five dwellings on the north side of East Street in Chulmleigh, comprising Swallows, Merlins Cottage, Bakers, Muffets and Wrens Cottage. Originally a tenement farmhouse dating to the early 17th century, though earlier fabric may well be concealed within the structure. The front range was extended to the rear probably in the 18th century, and subdivided into three tenements probably in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The buildings are constructed of painted roughcast rendered stone rubble and cob. The thatch roof is half-hipped at the right end with a large rendered stone rubble stack. A stone rubble rear lateral hall stack with tapered cap is enclosed by an outshut. An axial brick stack and rendered stack sit at the hipped left end. The rear range, forming Muffets, is also thatched and hipped at the rear end with two lateral stacks on the left-hand outer wall.

Despite subdivision into three separate tenements, the front range is a surprisingly little-altered three-room-and-through-passage house. Swallows occupies the left end, Merlins Cottage the centre, and Bakers the right end. The divisions between the cottages occur at each end of the hall, which is heated by the rear lateral stack, with an inner room to the right at the lower end and a screens passage to the left. Direct entrances have been made into Merlins and Bakers Cottages. The front through-passage doorway has been blocked and a new doorway inserted to the left for Swallows. The screen to the lower side of the passage has been removed and two rooms formed from the lower end and former passage, with a brick stack inserted against a surviving screen. Merlins and Bakers are both single-plan cottages with staircases and small service rooms in the continuous rear outshuts. The original staircase appears to have been beside the hall stack, though there may also have been one beside the inner room stack. Heavy straight principals are visible over the hall section, suggesting the early 17th-century date, and it is highly likely that an earlier roof structure survives, though the main roofspace could not be accessed at the time of survey.

Possibly in the 18th century, a wing, probably originally a kitchen wing but now forming Wrens and Muffets Cottages, was added to the rear left end, creating an overall L-shaped plan.

The exterior is two storeys with a four-window range. All windows are three-light casements with two panes per light except for a four-paned sash at the right end. Swallows has a three-light casement with two panes per light to the left of a 20th-century door, and a two-light casement with two panes per light inserted in the blocked former through-passage doorway to the right. Merlins Cottage has a 19th-century plank door to the left of a three-light casement with three panes per light. Bakers has a plank door with four glazed upper panes to the left of a 20th-century three-light window. A small two-light window sits at the left end.

The hall and inner room in Merlins and Bakers have cross ceiling beams with sunk ovolo moulding and decorative run-out stops. Both rooms have scratch-moulded joists. A similarly moulded lintel sits above the inner room fireplace. The hall-passage screen is exposed on the hall side only, six planks wide and incorporating a gentle ogee-headed doorway. A cased 17th-century door surround survives to the rear of the inner room. A boxed-in beam to the lower side of the passage has a grooved soffit, indicating the former position of a second screen. The lower end has a chamfered cross ceiling beam. Both the beam and the existing screen stop short of the front wall, suggesting the latter may have been built out at the lower end. The interiors of all three cottages are relatively unspoilt. Heavy straight principals visible over all sections suggest the early roof structure is intact and possibly indicate a medieval core, though the roofspace could not be accessed at the time of survey.