Hills View

Hills View is a house, formerly a public house known as the Mason’s Arms until around the 1940s. Its original purpose - whether built as an inn or converted from a house - is unclear. It likely dates from the late 17th century. The house is constructed of whitewashed cob and stone rubble, with a wooden shingle roof that was thatched until at least 1960. A substantial axial stack is positioned to the right of the centre, while a left-end stack is said to be part of the adjoining Rock Cottage.

The building follows an overall L-shaped plan. The main range is a single depth, consisting of three rooms. A lobby entrance is situated to the right of the centre stack. According to current ownership, the right-hand room was used as a ladies’ parlour, the centre room served as the main bar, and the left-hand room was a general space. An axial passage runs parallel to the rear wall of the bar, leading to a small serving room with a serving hatch. This provides access to a single-roomed, unheated rear right wing, which may have functioned as a cellar. A doorway connects this wing to the ladies’ parlour, and a steep staircase rises from the axial passage. The wing has been extended with a second heated room, featuring a small 18th or 19th-century fireplace.

Facing the road with a small yard and garden in front, the house has two storeys and an asymmetrical four-window front. A 20th-century front door is positioned to the right of the centre, and most windows are small-pane 19th-century 2-light casements, with a fixed 9-pane window above the front door.

The right-hand room contains a late 17th or 18th-century fireplace with jambs curving towards the fireback. The centre room has a large fireplace with a plain timber lintel and retains plain exposed ceiling beams and a surviving bar bench fixed to the rear wall, below a reduced-size 18th-century cupboard door. The left-hand room has a plastered-over axial beam. An 18th-century cupboard door is on the staircase. The end room of the wing features a fireplace with an unhewn timber lintel, and the serving hatch from the serving room remains in place.

Historical records from White’s Devon list James Bond as the proprietor in 1850 and John Stanbury in 1879. The building contributes to the group value of a cluster of early houses located at the south end of the village.