Church House And Almshouses

A pair of houses, originally a church house and reputedly almshouses, is located on the north side of Queen Street, Winkleigh. According to historical sources, the church house was built in 1535 at a cost of £28 - 14s - 4d and was restored in the late 20th century. The building is constructed of partly rendered cob and rubble walls, and has a thatched roof, gabled to the left end and half-hipped to the right. There are three brick stacks: one at the left gable-end and two axial, the right-hand one constructed of older bricks.

The plan of the building has been altered considerably during the late 20th-century restoration, though details can be gleaned from a description by G. W. Copeland in "Devonshire Church Houses," written in the mid-20th century. The building comprises two distinct parts: the church house to the left and a section to the right, thought to have been an almshouse, though it is unclear whether the two parts are contemporary. The church house, according to Copeland, originally had a large room on the first floor, unusually heated by two gable-end fireplaces, entered by a doorway on the north side, facing the churchyard. The ground floor originally included two larger, heated rooms, the left-hand one with an oven (likely the kitchen), and a small store room between them. The right-hand cottage appears to have been of two-room plan, each heated by a central axial stack with a lobby entry.

The exterior presents an asymmetrical 4:2 window front with late 20th-century diamond-leaded pane 3-light casements. The church house has a roughly central 20th-century plank door under a thatched doorhood supported on wooden poles. The almshouse has a central 20th-century plank door directly in front of an axial stack. The rear elevation, facing onto the churchyard, is largely blank, except for a doorway at the right-hand end approached by old granite steps.

The interior of the church house was accessible at the time of survey. The right-hand ground floor room contains a fireplace with a chamfered wooden lintel ornamented with jewel stops. There are chamfered, unstopped ceiling beams throughout the ground floor rooms. A smaller fireplace on the first floor at the left-hand end has a cambered wooden lintel, also chamfered. The gable-end fireplaces at the left-hand end are altered, possibly later insertions. The roof structure in the church house has been completely renewed, imitating an early 17th-century form. It is unclear whether the roof in the almshouse was also replaced; if not, an original 17th-century structure may survive, along with other early features.