Hillside

Hillside is a house located in Dartington, dating to approximately the early 17th century, with significant remodelling and extensions in the later 18th or early 19th century. The construction utilises local limestone and shale rubble, topped with a thatched roof featuring gabled and hipped ends; the lower section of the roof over the north wing has wooden shingles at the front. Chimney stacks made of stone rubble, featuring tapered caps and a set-off on the west gable end, are prominent.

The house initially had a room plan, with uncertainty as to whether it began as a two-room or three-room layout. Only the higher end of the original three-room plan survives, specifically the inner room to the left and the hall. The passage and lower end to the right were demolished in the late 18th or early 19th century, and the house was reoriented with a new wall built at the lower end of the hall, creating a south-facing front. A lean-to outshut was added to the rear of the former hall, incorporating the original stair turret behind the junction of the inner room and hall, to contain a small service room and a straight staircase in place of the original newel staircase. An outbuilding at the higher left end, likely from the early 19th century, has been converted into a garage in the 20th century.

The west front is asymmetrical, featuring a large projecting lateral stack to the right with a significant set-off, and two small gables to the centre and left. A chamfered wooden lintel is present above a window on the left. Ground floor windows feature a 17th-century three-light wooden ovolo-moulded window to the left, with all retaining casements and glazing bars. A shallow stone porch with a lean-to shingle roof and a 20th-century plank door is situated to the right of centre, incorporated into the lateral stack. The south side features two first-floor windows and one larger ground-floor window, all with 19th/20th-century casements and glazing bars. A doorway to the right has a 19th-century plank door and a scantle slate lean-to canopy on wooden cantilevers. A single-storey lean-to addition from the early 19th century extends from the rear (east) side, with a subsequent 20th-century flat-roofed addition. A circa early 19th century, single-storey addition is present at the left (north) end, with a gable-ended slate roof, which was extended in the 20th century to form a garage.

Inside, the lower right-hand room, presumed to be the former hall, contains one cross beam and a half beam at the lower end featuring unusual composite mouldings, and scratch-moulded soffits on the joists. A plank and muntin screen separating the two rooms is plastered on the hall side but exposed on the other, exhibiting unchamfered muntins. The blocked front lateral fireplace in the former hall, and the replacement of the newel staircase by a straight staircase within the rear outshut, are also notable. The roof space was not inspected, but exposed principals indicate the presence of first-floor rooms with straight feet on the wall plate.