Knowle Cottage

SS 72 SE BISHOP'S NYMPTON AVERCOMBE

6/38 Knowle Cottage

GV II

Small house, disused at time of survey. Probably mid/late C17 with some circa mid C19 refashioning. Cob on stone rubble footings; corrugated asbestos roof (thatched until at least 1960, old list description), gabled at ends; end stacks. Plan: The C17 arrangement was a 2 room and cross passage plan house with a kitchen/living room to the left and a slightly smaller parlour to the right. A doorway in the rear wall of the left hand room gave access to rear stair projection behind the cross passage. C19 alterations involved inserting a staircase in the end of the cross passage and replacing the earlier stair in the stair projection with a second C19 stair and gallery. Narrow rear service rooms were added, a back kitchen to the rear left and a potato store to the rear right. The effect of the alterations was to convert the house to a double depth plan with efficient circulation, although the C17 plan form is still legible. A second doorway, giving access to the left hand room from the front, may also be C19: this means that each half of the house, left and right, could have functioned virtually independently with an entrance, staircase, principal room and service room. Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 3 window front with a half-glazed C19 front door to right of centre into the passage, C19 plank door to the left into the left hand room. C19 2- and 3-light timber casement windows with glazing bars. The left return has a blocked 2-light timber mullioned window and a projection containing the bread oven bulge and an outside lavatory. Interior: Good survival of C17 features in a small house. The left hand room has a chamfered axial beam which extends across the passage, a C17 chamfered doorframe to the passage and to the rear service room, an open fireplace with a chamfered doorframe to the passage and to the rear service room, an open fireplace with a chamfered lintel with step stops and a fixed bench in the front left corner. The right hand room has a C17 chamfered doorframe to the passage cased in the C19, a chamfered axial beam with hollow steps stops and 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 C17 stair projection. On the first floor principal rafters visible at time of survey appear to be straight. A small traditional house, rich in interior features.

Ground plan recorded by James Moir and deposited in the South Molton Archive, South Molton Library.

Listing NGR: SS7669823315