Downes House

Downes House

A house, formerly a farmhouse, dating from around 1500 and extensively remodelled and extended in the early to mid 17th century, with a 19th-century addition. The walls are constructed of plastered cob and rubble, with a gable-ended asbestos slate roof. A large rubble stack sits at the left gable end, a brick stack at the right gable end, and a lateral brick stack projects from the front. The house currently contains three rooms with a staircase occupying the position of the original cross passage, plus a small wing and rear outshut.

The house originated as an open hall with a central hearth and a through passage, with a long lower room to the right, probably divided only by low partitions. During the early to mid 17th century, a substantial remodelling took place, probably in stages, adding an inner room at the higher end of the hall and a small wing behind the lower room. There may also have been a stair projection at the rear of the hall, now absorbed by a later outshut. The house was converted to two storeys throughout. A front lateral stack was built onto the hall with an adjoining window bay, and gable end stacks were added at both ends with first-floor fireplaces. All ground-floor rooms became heated except the rear wing, which appears to have been an unheated service room. The lower room functioned as a parlour, so either the hall or inner room served as the kitchen. The rear outshut is probably a 19th-century addition, as are the stairs inserted into the passage.

The exterior is two storeys with an asymmetrical four-window front of circa mid-20th-century three-light casements. To the left of centre, the wall projects slightly to incorporate the lateral hall stack and its window bay. A gabled porch with an arched doorway, dating from the early 20th century, stands to the right of centre. Behind it is a 17th-century double ovolo-moulded wooden doorframe with a six-panelled 19th-century door. The rear elevation features an outshut to the right and a wide hipped-roof wing to the left of centre. On the north-elevation rear corner, a short section of wall reuses a 17th-century ovolo-moulded doorframe that once formed part of the interior.

The interior contains significant 17th-century features. The lower room to the right has a fine 17th-century plaster overmantle with a central heraldic shield, female figures to either side, and typical Jacobean strapwork surround with cornice above. The fireplace retains dressed stone jambs, though its lintel has been replaced. A 19th-century inserted fireplace adjoins it. At the rear of the lower room is a 17th-century moulded wooden doorframe with vase stops. A 17th-century plank door with bead mouldings leads to the cupboard under the stairs, revealing that the hall and passage partition is a plank and muntin screen, plastered over elsewhere. The hall fireplace has been reduced in width but retains its rough wooden lintel, chamfered with bar stops. A doorway at the rear of the hall, reached by a step up, has a 17th-century ovolo-moulded frame and contemporary panelled door of good quality. The fireplace in the left-hand room is mostly plastered over but has a chamfered wooden lintel and oven on the left-hand side.

On the first floor, the landing above the stairs and lower room has a moulded 17th-century plaster cornice. The first-floor room in the wing has a 17th-century moulded wooden doorframe with vase stops. The chamber over the lower room features a moulded wooden lintel and plaster overmantle with an oval plaque bearing a mermaid at the centre, winged mermaids either side, and a mask at the top. The first-floor room at the other end has a 17th-century fireplace with an ovolo-moulded wooden lintel and plaster overmantle in stylised strapwork design with a central shield in a square panel.

Two medieval trusses survive over the hall and lower side of the passage; they are probably raised crucks with morticed cranked collars, threaded purlins, and ridge. Most of the common rafters and battens remain and are heavily smoke-blackened throughout. The roof over the lower end has been replaced, but one purlin extends through and is more lightly smoke-blackened. The cob wall at the higher end is smoke-blackened on the hall side.

The house is significant as an important example of 17th-century remodelling of a late medieval building and is notable for its surviving medieval fabric and high-quality 17th-century features.