Bounsell's is a Grade II listed building in the Torridge local planning authority area, England. First listed on 16 February 1989. Cottage. 1 related planning application.

Bounsell's

WRENN ID
gaunt-newel-gorse
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Torridge
Constituency
Torridge and Tavistock MP: Sir Geoffrey Cox (Con)
Country
England
Date first listed
16 February 1989
Type
Cottage
Address
Bounsell's, 3 and 4, Merton, EX20 3DS
OS grid reference
SS 529 123
Coordinates
50.89192, -4.0921
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: sale history · EPC · related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

A pair of cottages, originally likely one house, dating from the early to mid 17th century, with possible origins in an earlier period and a 19th-century addition. The walls are a mix of plastered stone rubble and cob. The roof is thatched and hipped, with a plastered rubble axial stack and a rendered brick lateral stack slightly recessed from the front eaves. The original plan probably comprised two rooms and a through passage, with a hall to the left (now the unoccupied cottage) heated by a stack backing onto the passage. A 19th-century fireplace was added to the front of the lower room, likely when the house was divided into two cottages, and an outshut was added to the rear. The front has an asymmetrical three-window arrangement, with circa early 20th-century casement windows: a two-light window on the first floor under a small gable, a three-light window below it, and another two-light casement to the left. Two 19th-century casements with leaded lights are on the first floor to the right, with a mid-20th-century three-light casement below. A 19th-century plank door is positioned to the right of the centre, providing access to the left-hand cottage; the right-hand cottage has its access in the end wall. The accessible ground floor of the right-hand cottage showed no original features, although it had not been modernised within the last 50 years, and some original features may be concealed. The roof's external appearance suggests that early roof timbers may remain, potentially providing a more precise dating for the building. The overall appearance is traditional.

Local climate

Bounsell's sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 980 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 78% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 81% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 18 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 83% of listed buildings. Of these, 7 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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  • Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
  • Sale history — 4 transactions since 1998
  • Related listed building consents — 1 application
  • 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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