Pilton Abbey

BARNSTAPLE

SS5534SE BULL HILL, Pilton 684-1/2/321 (South side) 31/12/73 Pilton Abbey

GV II

House. c1840s, probably with an earlier core. Mass wall construction, rendered; one stone rubble elevation to service end; gabled, coped slate roofs (one hipped roof to service wing, which might be earlier); stacks with rendered shafts, some multiple, with projecting cornices and some old pots; cast-iron rainwater goods. Large, deep, approximately rectangular plan with entrance on the east side and service wings to NW. 3 storeys. Deep eaves with projecting rafter ends. Timber mullioned windows with moulded mullions and high transoms, glazed with small-pane casements. Asymmetrical 3-window E front. Left-hand of elevation occupied by shallow projecting stack with set-offs and triple shafts. Projecting porch alongside to right with coped gable with corbelled kneelers and chamfered Tudor arched outer doorway; Tudor-style front door with planted mouldings. 2 ground and 3 first-floor windows, the ground-floor windows with hoodmoulds. One gabled attic dormer in narrow gable, also coped with kneelers, with one-light crank-headed window. Service block to right is gable end to the E with a single first-floor 2-light window to match the others and a gable end stack. Garden (S) elevation in the same style is gabled to the front to left and right with a small gable to the narrow recessed bay in the centre. Shallow ground-floor bays to left and right with hipped roofs, glazed with 3-light windows. 2-storey canted bay in centre with half-glazed garden door and bay window to first floor. Second-floor window above bay is a one-light crank-headed window. Outer bays have 3-light first-floor windows and 2-light attic windows in the gables. Other elevations preserve early C19 windows including at least one 16-pane sash which may be C18. INTERIOR: not seen on survey but known to contain early C19 chimneypieces and joinery. HISTORICAL NOTE: the building was never part of a monastic site. It was known as Lee's tenement in the C17 and C18. It was a large house by 1780, and was named Pilton Abbey by 1866. (Reed MA: Pilton, its Past and Present: Barnstaple: 1985-: 159-60).

Listing NGR: SS5562234099