Church Cottages

THURLESTONE THURLESTONE VILLAGE SX 64 SE 4/167 Nos. 1, 2 and 3 Church Cottages 26.1.67 (formerly listed as 1,2 & 3 Church House)

G. V. II

Row of 3 houses formerly church house and poorhouse. Possibly dates from 1536 according to documentary evidence, altered probably in C19. Slatestone rubble walls. Gable ended slate roof. Rendered probably rubble, axial stack with brick shaft and 2 brick gable end stacks. Plan: the building seems to have functioned both as church house and poorhouse and Copeland thinks that the left-hand end was the church house as it projects at the rear and contains a winding staircase. Now the property is 1 and 2-room cottages. Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 4-window front of circa early C20 2 and 3- light casements some in original chamfered stone window openings. Towards left- hand end are the two C20 stable type doors to Nos. 1 and 2 with a similar one to No. 3 to the right of centre. Two-thirds of the way up the front wall is a rough string course and it also has a rough plinth. A rubble buttress with 2 offsets at left-hand end has a freestone shield on it carved with the arms of Nicholas Ayshford, one of the joint patrons of the building. Interior: inaccessible at time of survey but a description of the building in c.1960 by Copeland mentions wide stone stairs, a corbelled oak beam. plain plank screen and open fireplaces in left-hand end cottage with no such features visible in the others.

Source: Devonshire Church Houses - G.W. Copeland; T.D.A. 1960.

Listing NGR: SX6761743070