Hills View

SS 72 SE BISHOP'S NYMPTON

6/40 Hills View

20.2.67

GV II

House, a public house called the Mason's Arms until circa the 1940s. It is not clear whether it was built as an inn or converted from a house. Probably late C17. Whitewashed rendered cob and stone rubble; wooden shingle roof, gabled at ends (thatched until at least 1960, old list description); back to back fireplaces in an axial stack to right of centre, left end stack has been used to heat left end room but is said to be part of Rock Cottage (q.v.), adjoining at the left. Plan: Overall L plan. Single depth main range, 3 rooms wide, with a lobby entrance to right of centre against the axial stack. Before the building closed as a public house the right hand room was used as the ladies' parlour, the centre room as the main bar (information from owner). An axial passage runs parallel to the rear wall of the bar with a small serving room with serving hatch in an outshut behind the passage, which also gives access to a 1 room plan unheated rear right wing which may have been the cellar. There is a doorway from this room into the ladies' parlour. A steep stair rises from the axial passage. The wing has been extended by a second room heated by a small C18 or C19 fireplace. Exterior: Facing the main road through the village but set back from it with a small yard and garden in front. 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 4 window front with a C20 front door to right of centre and small-pane C19 2-light casement except for a fixed 9-pane window above the front door. Interior: The right hand room has a late C17 or C18 fireplace, the jambs curving in towards the fireback. The centre room has a large fireplace with a plain timber lintel and plain exposed ceiling beams. The bar bench survives, fixed to the rear wall, close to the fire below an C18 cupboard door which has been reduced in size. The left hand room has a plastered-over axial beam. C18 cupboard door on the stairs. The fireplace in the end room of the wing has an unhewn timber lintel. The serving hatch from the serving room survives. White's Devon gives names of the proprietors as James Bond in 1850, and John Stanbury in 1879. Group value with a cluster of early houses at the south end of the village.

Listing NGR: SS7584423680