East Hele Farmhouse

East Hele Farmhouse is a farmhouse dating from the late 16th or early 17th century, though it may incorporate earlier fabric. It has undergone significant alterations in the 20th century. The construction is primarily rendered stone rubble and cob, with a hipped thatched roof. A prominent front lateral stone rubble stack rises from the hall, built in courses with offsets and a tapered cap. There is also a rendered stack on the gable end of the rear wing, and a stack that was demolished at the right end. The original plan possibly featured a longhouse configuration with three rooms and a through-passage, with the lofted lower end to the left serving as an outbuilding. A single-room wing was added to the rear right end in the late 17th century. While there is no evidence the hall originally extended to the roof, the roof structure was replaced in the 18th or 19th century. A stair turret, originally to the left of the through-passage, was converted to a straight-run staircase, and a staircase to the right of the parlour stack was removed in the 20th century. A new staircase was added to the rear wing, running up the rear wall of the inner room. A 20th-century two-storey extension was added to the rear of the lower end, and a lower-end stack was inserted in the 20th century.

The exterior presents two storeys and a six-window range. A four-light ovolo mullion window is present in the inner room, along with 17th-century two-light timber casements on each floor to the right end, and two two-light timber casements towards the left end. All other windows are 20th-century additions, incorporating re-used elements from various North Devon buildings. The fine ovolo moulded door surround to the through-passage, featuring a four-leaf design and rams horn stops, originates from Barnstaple. The two-storey rear extension is designed to resemble a porch, incorporating two 17th-century doorways, a 17th-century carved string course, and a carved apex finial from the stables at Dartmouth Castle. A 1675 dateplaque has also been re-used.

The interior reveals extensive re-used 17th-century fabric. Original features include chamfered hall cross ceiling beams and a chamfered axial ceiling beam to the inner room. A four-centred arched doorway with a chamfered surround connects the hall and inner room. The rear wing's ground floor room and chamber above retain moulded plasterwork cornices; the chamber’s walls feature three decorative plasterwork panels on each end. The stairhall of the wing also boasts a moulded plaster cornice and a small central roundel. Both rooms originally had decorative plasterwork ceilings, which no longer survive. The majority of roll-moulded door surrounds to the chambers are likely late 17th century. The remaining fittings, predominantly 17th-century, are re-used, including a plank and muntin screen from a house in East Street, South Molton; leaded glass and windows from the Blue Coat School in Barnstaple; a staircase, panelled window seats, and door surrounds from other demolished Devon buildings. East Hele Farmhouse was unoccupied for several years until around 1980, when the previous owner removed fittings and destroyed the plaster ceilings.