Silver House

Silver House, East Street, Chulmleigh

A house of early 16th-century date, remodelled in the early 17th century, refenestrated in the 19th century, and undergoing alterations at the time of survey in June 1986.

The building is constructed of painted roughcast rendered stone rubble and cob. The roof is thatch with an asbestos slate roof to the rear. The main range has a gable end to the left and a hipped end to the right. There is a tall front lateral stone rubble hall stack with a tapered cap, and a stone rubble stack at the left end shared with the adjacent Beggars Roost. Corrugated iron roofs cover rear ranges.

The plan is of 2 rooms with a through-passage, with the lower end to the left at single storey height. Rear service ranges extend from each end, creating an overall U-shaped plan. Originally the building was an open hall house with the hall positioned to the right of the screens passage and the lower end to the left. Smoke-blackening extends across the entire front range, evidence of the former open hall. The hollow chamfered bressumers at each end suggest that the lower end and hall were floored and the hall stack inserted during the same period in the early 17th century. However, the lower gable end stack appears to be a late 17th-century insertion. The lower end was therefore converted from a buttery and cellar (indicated by two doorways to the screen on the lower side of the passage) into a parlour at this time. In the late 18th or early 19th century, a hip was introduced at the right end. At approximately the same period, a single storey gable-ended rear range was constructed, containing two small service rooms to the rear right end and a stair outshut to the rear of the lower end, later enclosed by a lean-to roof over a rear outbuilding extending at right angles to the rear left end. In the early 20th century the through-passage was modified by removing the screen on the hall side and inserting a stud partition that encroached further into the hall, while a winder staircase replaced the original staircase to the rear right side of the passage.

The exterior is two storeys with a three-window range. The fenestration is entirely intact from the early to mid-19th century, consisting of hornless 12-paned sashes throughout. The ground floor has similar sashes to the left of a plank door and at the right end. The two-storey hall bay has been built out in line with the lateral stack. The rear and courtyard faces have early 19th-century fenestration: a 3-light casement with 2 panes per light to the upper storey of the main range at rear, and a similar 4-light casement with 3 panes per light to the courtyard face of the right-hand rear service range.

Interior features include a hollow chamfered bressumer to the gable end of the lower end, supporting heavy square-cut axial joists which are supported entirely by this member and the plank and muntin screen on the lower side of the passage. The stack is clearly a late 17th-century insertion and has a chamfered timber lintel with small hollow step and large bar stops. There is no bread oven in the lower end. The plank and muntin screen, concealed on the passage side, displays chamfered muntins and is 3 planks wide to the right of two 4-centred arched doorways. The left-hand doorway was blocked at an early date, probably when the stack was inserted, whilst the right-hand doorway was modified slightly in the 19th century with the insertion of a straight-headed doorway. The wider bay at the left end, comparable to that at Bolberry Cottage on South Molton Street, is wide enough for a third doorway, and its headrail is unchamfered, suggesting it may have given access to the staircase in the through-passage. Only the upper treads of the inserted staircase in the rear outshot at the left-hand corner of the lower end survive. The outbuilding beyond has a cobbled floor. The front and rear through-passage doorways show clear evidence of having been reduced in width, with the front section of the headrail to the screen on the hall-side of the passage indicating its former considerable width. Between the screens is a cross ceiling beam, hollow chamfered on the lower side only. The hall fireplace has a large but unchamfered timber lintel with a small bread oven in the left-hand jamb. A hollow-chamfered bressumer at the upper end of the hall finishes short at the front end where the hall bay has been built out. There is a 19th-century grate to the chamber over the lower end.

The roof structure comprises 2 cruck trusses, raised and possibly originally jointed. One truss is positioned forward of the former screen over the hall, and the other is situated over the lower side of the through-passage, originally fully closed but now reduced to collar level. There are 2 tiers of butt purlins and diagonally threaded ridge purlins. A third truss close to the left gable end has straight principals of lighter scantling with purlins that are trenched rather than threaded. All roof members including battens and rafters (but not the underside of the thatch) are smoke-blackened, except at the right end where a hip has been introduced. The lower gable end wall also appears to show evidence of smoke-blackening.