Sunset Cottage

TAWSTOCK SS 52 NE 4/62 Sunset Cottage - 25.2.65 II

House, probably mid C16, remodelled in C17. Rendered stone and cob. Asbestos slate roof with gable ends. Large front lateral stack with tapered cap, offsets and bread oven projection. Unusual plan form with hall heated by lateral stack at right end, formerly open to the roof, with direct entry to smaller room adjoining to left. A single cell range at the left end was demolished c. 1970. Stairs to rear of hall in 2 storey continuous outshut. 2 storeys. Irregular C20 fenestration with diamond leaded lights. 2 light casement over cased in C16 doorway to left of stack and 3 light over 2 light casement to right. 2 storey outshut to rear has reset C17 and scroll-stopped chamfered door surround, one of the jambs replaced, with plank door with cover strips. Interior moulded plasterwork cornice to hall and partly surviving to chamber over. Integral bench seat in window built out in line with stack. Chamfered fireplace lintel. Low chamfered beam at the lower end of hall indicates former jettied construction confirmed by the roof structure which survives largely intact below the superimposed C20 roof. 2 raised cruck trusses with threaded purlins and ridge purlin and morticed and tenoned collars, that over the centre of the hall thoroughly smoke-blackened as are the purlins, rafters and surviving battens. The second truss over the jetty is closed to the apex with a cob and lime plaster partition, smoke blackened on the hall side only, the roof timbers over the smaller room being clean. An interesting example therefore of a house built in a transitional period being partially floored from the outset, the hall itself not being ceiled until the early to mid C17.

Listing NGR: SS5764225730