St Leonards Cottage (South) is a Grade II* listed building in the Torridge local planning authority area, England. First listed on 19 June 1989. House.
St Leonards Cottage (South)
- WRENN ID
- third-ledge-bone
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Torridge
- Constituency
- Torridge and Tavistock MP: Sir Geoffrey Cox (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 19 June 1989
- Type
- House
- Address
- St Leonards Cottage (South), Hartland
- OS grid reference
- SS 248 238
- Coordinates
- 50.98752, -4.49624
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
A small house, dating to around 1500, with alterations in the 20th century. The walls are constructed of very small stone rubble and it has a gable-ended thatched roof. There is a brick stack at each end of the building. The plan originally comprised two rooms, with a smaller room to the right and an entrance lobby between them. The right-hand fireplace is a 19th-century insertion and the left-hand end wall has been rebuilt but may have previously contained an early stack. It appears to have been two storeys high from the outset, although the room proportions may have been altered, and some rebuilding of the front may have occurred.
The front elevation has a regular arrangement of 20th-century 2-light casement windows, some with small panes, and a 19th-century plank door to the right of centre, sheltered by a contemporary slate hood. The right-hand side of the front is slightly recessed. A 18th- or 19th-century lean-to thatched roof outbuilding is attached to the right-hand end with a door on the front.
The rear elevation features a rare original 2-light timber mullion window to the right, now blocked with round-headed lights.
Inside, the ground floor has very heavy chamfered cross beams with convex diagonal stops. The original roof structure consists of two pairs of raised crucks, which show no evidence of smoke damage. The left-hand truss has a morticed apex with a triangular strengthening block below. The right-hand truss has an unusual apex arrangement with a large saddle into which the tops of the principals are morticed, and a smaller saddle above it into which the diagonal ridge is notched. There is a light morticed collar close to the saddle. The trusses are constructed of very heavy timber, and the front rafter of the right-hand truss has dropped considerably.
The building's high quality of carpentry raises questions about its original function. Its proximity to a chapel of a similar date suggests a connection, possibly housing a priest. Alternatively, both buildings may be remnants of a larger complex.
Local climate
St Leonards Cottage (South) sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,170 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 90% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 97% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 5 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 97% of listed buildings. Of these, 2 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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