Cogworthy

Cogworthy is a house at Yarnscombe, substantially remodelled in the late 16th and early 17th centuries from an earlier structure, with 20th-century renovations and a rear stair wing. The building is constructed of cob on stone rubble with rendered finish, and has a 20th-century slate roof laid in diminishing courses (replacing earlier thatch), half-hipped at the right end and gabled to the front (east) at the left. There are chimneys comprising an axial stack to the left of centre and two rear lateral stacks serving the main range, plus an axial stack to the rear right wing.

The plan is approximately L-shaped, consisting of a 3-room and through-passage main range facing east, with a rear right wing at right angles. The house was originally larger, probably with a double courtyard plan. The gatehouse of the front courtyard survives as a separate listed building, and a front left wing was demolished within the last decade; a store room at the left (south) end of the main range is all that remains of it. There was likely a rear service yard. The main range has a 2-storey porch to the through passage, positioned right of centre. The hall is heated by a rear lateral stack with a stair rising in an outshut off the rear wall. The inner room is heated from the axial stack at the junction with the store room. The lower end room was formerly heated by a right-end stack, replaced probably in the early 19th century by a rear lateral stack. The main range likely originated as an open hall house with a lower end kitchen, though this phase is conjectural. The late 16th and early 17th-century arrangement probably included a great chamber over the hall and passage (remains of plasterwork survive in the roofspace), accessed from the hall via the stair in the outshut. The rear right kitchen wing is probably a contemporary addition, including a kitchen and back kitchen heated from back-to-back fireplaces in the axial stack, with a high-quality chamber over the kitchen featuring decorated plasterwork and a garderobe.

20th-century alterations include the demolition of the front left wing (possibly semi-agricultural in function), with the surviving store room given a gable to the front at the left end; the addition of a 20th-century stair wing to the rear of the through passage, adjacent to the rear right kitchen wing; and the introduction of carpentry and joinery, some re-used from elsewhere and some copying original features.

The exterior is of 2 storeys with an asymmetrical 6-window front, gabled at the left end. A 2-storey gabled porch to the through passage occupies the right of centre, with a moulded stone outer doorframe (partly replaced). Windows are 2-, 3- and 4-light timber casements with 20th-century square leaded panes. Two ground-floor windows (to the left of the porch and lighting the inner room) are 17th-century with chamfered mullions and replaced sills. The rear left first-floor window is a re-sited 17th-century mullioned casement. A 20th-century ovolo-moulded inner doorframe to the porch copies 17th-century doorframes in the house. The porch door is 17th-century and re-used. The porch contains porch seats and restored plaster moulding.

The interior features a fine oak screen with 2 original cambered doorframes dividing the higher side of the passage. The screen is divided into large plain panels, evidently designed as a framework for more elaborate panelling. The hall has a repaired plaster cornice extending to flank plastered-over crossbeams, and an open fireplace. On the rear wall, a good 17th-century ovolo-moulded doorframe with unusual stops leads into the stair outshut, which contains a small closet with a 17th-century doorframe (possibly a buttery or wine store) beneath the stair. The stair is made up of re-used 17th-century balusters, said to originate from a house in Plymouth. The inner room has a plastered-over ceiling beam and a 17th-century fireplace with dressed stone jambs and a chamfered stopped lintel. The lower end room is entered from the passage through a moulded, repaired doorframe, with a plastered-over axial beam and a small fireplace with timber lintel on the rear wall.

The late 20th-century stair wing incorporates a stair made up of re-used turned 17th-century newels and balusters. The 17th-century kitchen has a 17th-century doorframe, a chamfered, stopped crossbeam, exposed joists, and a splendid 17th-century kitchen fireplace with a chamfered lintel extending the full width of the room. The fireplace is divided into 2 by a crosswall, the left-hand opening possibly a smoking chamber, marked by a stone crosswall with the lintel supported by a timber corbel. The main hearth has a 19th-century bread oven. The back kitchen has an open fireplace with a chamfered, stopped timber lintel.

On the first floor, an axial passage provides access via two 17th-century doorframes at the top of the hall stair, one with an ovolo-moulded frame, leading to the room over the inner room and the putative great chamber. Another chamfered doorframe leads to the room over the lower end, chamfered on the room side rather than the passage side. The room over the kitchen has a garderobe with a cranked lintel, original door and timber seat; a small blocked window is splayed on the inside.

The roof incorporates thick crosswalls to the apex dividing the inner and lower ends from the hall. The truss over the inner end is an A-frame with a mortised collar, the principals with a thin chamfer below the collar, which is also chamfered. Two trusses span the hall: one matches the previously described form, the other has a lap-dovetailed collar. Remains of a plaster cornice survive in the roofspace, along with decoration on the higher side wall consisting of sprays of stylised flowers. Small iron hooks below the cornice may have been for hanging tapestries. The roof truss over the lower end has a mortised collar; the truss over the porch has a lap-dovetailed collar. Some original trenched purlins survive. A 20th-century roof structure has been added over the 17th-century trusses. The wing has A-frame trusses with lap-dovetailed collars. Remains of a good 17th-century strapwork frieze survive in the roofspace over the room with a garderobe, and the plasterline indicates it originally had a cambered ceiling.

Cogworthy is a good-quality house with interesting interior features.