Rear Part Only

BARNSTAPLE

SS558331SE HIGH STREET 684-1/9/129 (East side) 31/08/88 No.20 Rear part only

GV II

Part of house, now shop. Early or mid C17. Thick rendered walls, probably of stone or cob. Slated roof. Pair of original, diagonally set red brick chimneys at rear end; heightened in late C19. 1-room plan, 3.9m deep and 5.3m wide internally. Probably originated as the detached back block of a house fronting High Street, rebuilt in late C19. Built up against its rear wall, in separate ownership, is another C19 range (not included) fronting the churchyard. 2 storeys, the upper storey partly in the roof space. C20 windows and doors in right-hand side wall, fronting a small courtyard behind No.19 High Street (qv). INTERIOR: has heavy old roof truss, plastered in. Ceiled under the collar-beam with small moulded cornice, this being continued round the front wall. Ground storey wholly altered and front wall removed. Early fireplaces, windows and floor timbers are likely to be concealed under plaster. Detached back blocks are a rare feature in English urban domestic architecture and are of significance even when the main house has been demolished, especially when (as in this case) they retain early detail. Part of the former front of No.20 is shown in Baxter & Baxter. (Baxter J & Baxter J: Barnstaple Yesterday: 1980-: PL 74).

Listing NGR: SS5582133190