Holset House Including Barometer Fixed To North Wall

Holset House, which may have originally been two small houses, dates from the early to mid 17th century and has undergone some modernization in the early 19th century. The building features mixed construction, with the side and back walls made of stone rubble, while the front walls are plastered timber-framing. It has a stone rubble stack and chimney shaft made of painted brick from the 19th century, topped with a slate roof.

The house is situated on a corner site and consists of two small ranges, each with a one-room plan, with the right-hand range being smaller and possibly later. It has three storeys and a two-window range. The plastered front walls are designed to resemble ashlar, reflecting early 19th-century styling but structurally dating back to the 17th century. The side walls are corbelled out to support a second-floor jetty on the left and a first-floor jetty on the right.

The left range features a front doorway with a 20th-century studded door and a small window. To the right, there are a pair of sash windows without glazing bars. The first floor includes a canted bay with a front 16-pane sash window and side 8-pane sashes. The second floor has a smaller 16-pane sash window under a gable with shaped bargeboards and a terracotta finial at the apex. The right-hand range has a plain side wall facing the quay, which contains a single ground-floor horizontal-sliding 12-pane sash window. The north front has a 19th-century plank door and a horned 4-pane sash window on each of the upper floors. The roof is at the same level as the main range but is much smaller, with a gable featuring shaped bargeboards and a terracotta finial.

Inside, the interior has largely been altered due to superficial modernizations in the 19th and 20th centuries. The beams are plastered over, and the fireplaces have been blocked with grates. There is a 19th-century staircase from the ground to the first floor, but the original timber newel remains above. The roof has not been inspected.

A notable feature of the house is the barometer fixed to the north wall to the right of the door. This barometer, manufactured by Negretti Zambra, is housed in a wooden case with a glass front. An inscribed brass plaque indicates that it was presented to the mariners of Dartmouth in 1860 by the Member of Parliament John Hardy of Tunstall Hall, Staffordshire.