Colston House

Colston House is a house dating to the 1830s, built of local stone rubble, partly stuccoed and with rusticated quoins. It has a slate roof, hipped at the ends, with diminishing courses and rendered stacks incorporating cable moulding and old chimney pots. The house backs directly onto the road and has a double-depth plan, composed of two rooms wide with a central passage containing the stair and a rear left service room. A later block adjoins at the left end.

The symmetrical, three-bay front, plus a one-window block to the left, features a central open porch with fluted columns and a flat roof. The front door is half-glazed, within a reeded doorcase. The first floor has three round-headed sash windows dating to the 1860s, with geometric glazing bars and margin panes. Similar windows are located on the ground floor, also with margin panes. The left-hand block also has rusticated quoins and a tripartite sash window on both the first and ground floors. The rear elevation, facing the road, features a tall round-headed stair window with diamond panes, along with two- and three-light casements with small panes. A central ground-floor window is blocked.

The interior retains 19th-century joinery, including panelled doors in reeded doorcases. A stick baluster staircase features a ramped handrail. The main room chimney-pieces have been replaced. The rear left kitchen has a granite-paved floor, and an adjoining service room has a floor of Ashburton limestone. The house is said to have been the dower house to Biggadon, and was later occupied by Richmal Crompton, author of the Just William books.