Cholwells

Cholwells is a farmhouse of probably early to mid 17th-century date, representing a significant remodelling of an earlier house, with further alterations carried out in the 18th and 19th centuries. The building is constructed of slatestone rubble walls, rendered at the rear and side, with a gabled roof of natural slate. It has a brick axial stack and a rendered rubble projecting stack at the left gable end with a brick shaft.

The plan has undergone complex development. The house currently contains three rooms with a wide through-passage, though this arrangement does not reflect the original form. The central room is the one element that probably retains its early shape, and it appears to have functioned as the hall throughout the building's history. Originally, however, the passage was positioned at the lower right-hand end of the hall, where there is now a 19th-century kitchen. Evidence of this former arrangement is provided by a two-storey porch at the front of this location, whose doorway has been blocked up. The entire lower end and passage were apparently demolished in the 17th century when the house was extended at the higher end. The thinner walls of the kitchen, which replaced the passage, indicate its later construction. The extensive 17th-century remodelling involved removing the end wall and extending the house to create a passage and a smaller heated room beyond the hall. This passage may occupy the position of the previous inner room, while the room beyond it appears to have been built as a parlour. The hall subsequently took on an additional kitchen function. An 18th-century dairy was added behind it, and a wide porch was built onto the roadside of the new passage, probably at a similar date. A 19th-century outshut was built between them.

The exterior presents a two-storey asymmetrical five-window front facing away from the road. A small gabled two-storey former porch projects from the right-hand end. Windows are predominantly 1, 2 and 3-light small-paned casements, with 20th-century French windows to the left of centre beneath a 17th-century stone hoodmould. A similar hoodmould appears over the blocked window at the left-hand end, while the window to its right has a simple stone dripcourse. A stone eaves cornice is present. A 20th-century conservatory stands to the right of centre with a small stair outshut beyond, abutting the wing. The wing features a 20th-century glazed door on its inner face and a chamfered stone plinth on its end wall, interrupted by an original round-arched doorway of South Hams type, now blocked. This is concealed by a 19th-century outbuilding positioned in front of the wing. The rear roadside elevation displays a half-hipped dairy wing projecting to the left with an outbuilding added in front of it. To the right of centre is a two-storey porch with pigeon holes below the eaves. A 19th-century lean-to sits between the porch and wing. A slate rubble garden retaining wall fronts the house.

Internally, the central room contains two roughly chamfered cross beams and chamfered and step-stopped joists. A 17th-century plank and muntin screen at the higher end features scratch-moulded muntins and a moulded headbeam. The higher end room also has a plank and muntin screen, of which the bottom has not survived, with similar decoration. The axial ceiling beams exhibit the same roll and hollow moulding as the screen headbeam, with scratch-moulded joists. Fireplaces in both rooms have been rebuilt. One of the first-floor rooms contains a 17th-century hanging cupboard with a well-finished panelled door fitted with butterfly hinges. One 17th-century roof truss survives with evidence of a dovetailed collar; the other trusses have been cut off, although one of early appearance survives over the original porch where loft access is difficult. The outward appearance of the house from the roadside belies its good quality internal features and complex structural development.