Castle Chambers

Castle Chambers is a late 17th-century house, possibly with an earlier core, and subject to several later alterations and improvements. It is located in Barnstaple, with a shared cartway with the adjacent property at No.25. The building is constructed of rendered mass walls, except for the rear elevation where the first-floor end wall and stable (now demolished) are timber-framed, the latter featuring substantial framing. The roof is slate, with gabled ends and chimney stacks with 19th or 20th-century brick shafts.

The house follows a late 17th-century townhouse plan, consisting of two parallel blocks positioned end-on to the street. The right-hand (southeast) block is three rooms deep, with lateral stacks providing heating. The left-hand block is one-and-a-half rooms deep, featuring a rear courtyard, and originally included a stable block which has since been demolished; this section may have originally been part of the domestic accommodation. A substantial open-well staircase is located behind the front rooms, and a parlour is positioned on the first floor at the front right. The original kitchen’s location is unclear but may have been in the centre right-hand room. A mass wall between the blocks suggests the possible re-use of two earlier urban plots to create the larger house.

The building is two storeys high and has an asymmetrical 1:2-window facade, with the right-hand block set back. A 20th-century half-glazed door is centrally positioned on the left-hand side. The ground floor has three 20th-century paired 2-pane sash windows, and the first floor has two 8-over-1-pane sash windows, both 20th-century. Overlooking the courtyard are two late 17th-century wood mullioned first-floor windows; one window has an ovolo-moulded exterior and a flat-faced interior, originally containing seven lights, though most are now blocked or missing, with the lintel surviving. The other is a 3-light flat-faced mullioned window, featuring bead-moulded mullions on the interior and square leaded panes.

Internally, the house retains several late 17th-century and later historic features. The right-hand block has chamfered cross beams to the ground floor and a good late 17th-century bolection-moulded chimney piece to the first-floor front room. The open-well staircase has been extensively repaired and may have been rebuilt in the early 20th century, but retains some original balusters. A surviving ovolo-moulded door frame jamb exists on the ground floor, along with a 16th-century panel door with moulded strips and HL hinges on the first floor (though its original position is unclear). The front left-hand ground floor room has been refurbished in the first half of the 18th century, featuring a 2-panel door, fielded panel wall cupboard, and an 18th-century timber chimney piece. Further features likely remain concealed behind later plaster. The roof has been heavily repaired in recent years and contains late A-frame trusses with lap-jointed collars.

Castle Chambers represents a good example of a late 17th-century townhouse, retaining much of its original plan and many features.