Knowle Cottage

Knowle Cottage is a small house, likely dating from the mid to late 17th century, with alterations made around the mid 19th century. It is constructed of cob on stone rubble footings, and has a corrugated asbestos roof, which was originally thatched until at least 1960. The house has end stacks.

Originally, the house comprised two rooms and a cross passage, with a kitchen/living room to the left and a smaller parlour to the right. A doorway in the rear wall of the left-hand room provided access to a projecting stairwell behind the cross passage. 19th-century alterations included the insertion of a staircase into the cross passage and replacing the earlier stairwell with a second staircase and gallery. Rear service rooms were added, including a back kitchen to the rear left and a potato store to the rear right. These alterations converted the house to a double-depth plan. A second doorway, providing access to the left-hand room from the front, is likely from the 19th century, potentially allowing each half of the house to function virtually independently.

The front of the house has an asymmetrical facade with three windows. It features a half-glazed 19th-century front door to the right of centre, leading to the passage, and a 19th-century plank door to the left, leading to the left-hand room. 19th-century 2- and 3-light timber casement windows with glazing bars are also present. The left return shows a blocked 2-light timber mullioned window and a projection containing a bread oven bulge and an outside lavatory.

Inside, the house retains good 17th-century features. The left-hand room has a chamfered axial beam extending across the passage, a 17th-century chamfered doorframe to the passage and to the rear service room, an open fireplace with a chamfered lintel with stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops, and a fixed bench in the front left corner. The right-hand room includes a 17th-century chamfered doorframe to the passage, now cased in 19th-century panelling, a chamfered axial beam with hollow step stops, C19 vertical matchboard dado panelling and a bench in the front right corner. The rear right service room has a cobbled floor and a blocked stair window to the 17th-century stairwell projection. On the first floor, straight principal rafters are visible.

A ground plan was recorded by James Moir and is held in the South Molton Archive and Library. Knowle Cottage is a small, traditional house with a rich collection of interior features.