The Chantry And Spring Cottage

The Chantry and Spring Cottage are two adjoining houses located in the village of Huxham-with-Combe-Coigneanthead. Spring Cottage dates to the mid-17th century, while The Chantry is believed to be an 18th or 19th century building, likely originally a farm building, with 20th century alterations. The houses are constructed with whitewashed and rendered elevations, set on stone rubble footings, and have thatched roofs; the roof is gabled at the right end of Spring Cottage and half-hipped at the left end of The Chantry. Chimneys are located at the ends of Spring Cottage.

Spring Cottage is a single-depth range with two main heated rooms, one on either side of the entrance. The original use of the centre of the house is unclear; it now contains modern partitions and a 20th century staircase, but it may originally have been a lobby with a service room at the rear. The Chantry, converted from an agricultural building, comprises a single-storey principal room and a rear lean-to addition.

The front of Spring Cottage has an asymmetrical three-window facade, with the thatched eaves running above the first-floor windows. The front door is to the right of the centre, sheltered by a slated porch hood. It features 2-light 19th or 20th century casement windows with glazing bars. The Chantry has one large transomed casement window with shutters and an entrance through a glazed lean-to on its left return wall, with a 4-pane first-floor casement above.

Inside Spring Cottage, the room on the right has a chamfered step-nick stopped crossbeam, and a rebuilt open fireplace with an ovolo-moulded lintel with similar stops. Evidence of a former plank and muntin screen is visible to the left of the entrance. The left-hand room also has an ovolo-moulded stopped crossbeam. The roof has straight principal rafters visible upstairs, some fixed to wall posts with nails.

A circa 1900 postcard depicting The Chantry before the addition of the glazed lean-to describes it as the ‘Reading Room’. The buildings form part of a group in the village.