The Bishop Lacy Public House

Public house on Chudleigh Fore Street, west side. Built in the early 16th century with early 17th-century remodelling, a subsequent rear left wing, and 20th-century alterations.

The building is colourwashed and rendered with a slate roof, gabled at the ends. It has end stacks and a rear lateral stack to the main range, plus an end stack to the rear right wing. The roof structure reveals that this was originally a high-status late medieval house of five bays, consisting of a storeyed bay at the left end, a two-bay open hall, and two storeyed bays at the right end with a fine first-floor chamber. A rear right wing, at right angles to the lower end, was probably a 16th-century kitchen and may originally have had an open hearth. The hall was likely floored over in the 17th century when the rear lateral stack may have been added. The remains of a through passage, now used as the bar, survives to the right of centre. The partition between the inner room (probably unheated until the 19th century) and hall no longer exists. A rear left wing, at right angles to the former inner room, is probably a 19th-century addition, giving an overall U-shaped plan.

The building is two storeys high with a five-window asymmetrical front. The central bay is a canted two-storey bay window. The front door serves the former passage and is positioned to the right of the bay window, with a further door at the extreme left. Both doors have flat porch canopies carried on moulded timber brackets. Windows are 20th-century two-light casements with square leaded panes.

The roof structure is outstanding. The two right-hand bays, probably originally the solar, have a hollow-chamfered arched brace truss with chamfered butt purlins with run-out stops and two tiers of chamfered wind braces. There is no ridge piece. A closed truss divides this section from the two bays over the hall to the left, with the remains of a presumed 17th-century cranked doorway in the closed truss. The truss over the hall is of similar design but with arched braces moulded with an ovolo and hollow divided by fillets. The pegs fitting the rafters project through the purlins. A closed truss divides this two-bay section from the extreme left-hand bay, which is also wind braced.

The roof structure over the rear right wing is also of considerable interest. It comprises three probably 16th-century collar rafter jointed cruck trusses, with slightly cambered collars mortised into the principals. There is no ridge piece. The central truss is plastered and the two bays beyond it show some evidence of smoke staining. The old truss closest to the main range is not smoke-blackened. A comparatively modern truss adjacent to the junction with the main range suggests some rebuilding. It is possible that a formerly detached open-hearth kitchen with an unheated or storeyed bay was floored over when the end stack was added and subsequently linked to the main range.

On the ground floor, the remains of the through passage screens have pyramid stops and the passage joists are chamfered and stopped. The lower end is unusually narrow with a chamfered half-beam with step stops. The hall has a chamfered cross-beam with step stops, exposed joists, and surrounding the fireplace on the rear wall, a re-sited round-headed chamfered doorway. The dimensions suggest this was the original doorway to the through passage. Adjacent to the fireplace, and probably also re-sited, is a square-headed pegged doorway. The screen between hall and inner room no longer exists; a section may have been re-used as an internal lobby to the lounge bar entrance. Sections of moulded timber cornice on either side of the fireplace may also be re-sited.