Greenslade, The Little Cottage And Sharlands

Range of three tenements on the north side of East Street, Chulmleigh. Sharlands, at the right end, dates from probably the early 16th century, while The Little Cottage and Greenslade, at the centre and left respectively, probably date from the late 17th century. The buildings are constructed of painted rendered stone rubble and cob with a thatch roof, half-hipped to the right end and gable-ended to the left. Rear wings are also thatched, with the left wing having a gable end and the right wing hipped. A brick stack stands at the left end, with two axial brick stacks and a lateral stone rubble stack with brick shaft serving the right-hand rear wing.

The three tenements follow an overall U-shaped plan. Sharlands, forming the early core, is a cruck-built open hall house of three bays with subsequent multi-phased development. The hall to the right is heated by an axial stack backing onto a through-passage, with a small heated lower end to the left. The roof structure throughout is entirely smoke-blackened. The full jointed cruck truss over the lower side of the passage is fully closed, with the partition smoke-blackened on the hall side only, indicating the lower end was ceiled first. Later, probably in the early to mid 17th century, the hall itself was ceiled and the stack inserted backing onto the passage. A stair outshut was added to the rear of the hall, which circa 1700 was incorporated into the rear kitchen and dairy wing extension, the kitchen being heated by the lateral stack to the upper right side. The Little Cottage and probably Greenslade, each of one-room direct-entry plan, were apparently added in the 17th century. A two-storey extension of one-room plan was added to the rear of Greenslade probably in the late 18th or early 19th century. Twentieth-century single-storey extensions to the rear of both cottages have also been added.

Externally, the range displays two storeys with a five-window frontage. Nineteenth-century fenestration is principally intact. Greenslade has a three-light casement with three panes per light above a four-paned sash to the left of a six-panelled door with upper two panels glazed. The Little Cottage has a three-light casement with three panes per light over a twentieth-century three-light window to the left of a twentieth-century stable door. Sharlands has a three-light casement to each side of a two-light casement (all three panes per light) above a twentieth-century three-light window to the left and a four-light window to the right of a wide doorway with a plank door.

In the interior of Sharlands, a four-centred arched chamfered door surround leads to a former stair turret. The hall fireplace has dressed stone jambs and a reused timber lintel. A half beam to the side of the stack is roughly chamfered with soffit groving, probably for a former partition. A lath and plaster partition on the lower side of the passage may conceal a screen. A winder staircase is present, and a former second staircase in the kitchen was removed in the 20th century. A nineteenth-century lintel serves the fireplace, and a chamfered cross beam is visible. Nineteenth-century joinery is largely intact.

The roof structure of Sharlands is almost entirely intact, with two jointed cruck trusses. The truss over the lower side of the passage is a true cruck, while that over the hall is probably raised. Both have morticed and tenoned cambered collars, two tiers of trenched purlins and a diagonally set ridge purlin. The lower-side cruck is closed and the clay daub partition entirely intact, smoke-blackened on the hall side only. The ridge to the upper end has been sawn off and converted to a half-hip, which may suggest the house extended further to the right, particularly as the front wall and right-hand corner appear to have been rebuilt. All roof members, including rafters, battens and the underside of thatch (except for this front section), are thoroughly smoke-blackened. A curious feature comprises two surviving small curved struts resting on the back of the rear upper tier purlin and against the inserted hall stack, which may have formed part of a smoke louvre. The kitchen wing roof is late 17th or early 18th century with rough straight principals and lapped pegged collars, entirely intact.

The Little Cottage has a single chamfered cross ceiling beam with diagonal cut stops. A nineteenth-century staircase towards the rear right-hand corner runs up the rear wall. The roof space is not accessible but a single truss with heavy straight principals and typical 17th-century dovetails to removed collars is visible. The interior of Greenslade was not inspected.