Bell Tower Cottage

Bell Tower Cottage is a house of early 15th to mid 16th century date, located in Ashwater. It has undergone alterations in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The building is constructed of whitewashed stone rubble and cob with a slate roof. 19th century extensions to the rear are of stone rubble. The house is two storeys with a two-room plan and central cross passage. The northern room and chamber above have been enlarged by one narrow bay to the rear under a gabled roof. The remainder of the rear wall has been replaced by timber-framed wall, and a narrow service extension has been built across the rear as far as the end of the northern bay. A single-storey outshut with a lean-to roof is located at the south end. The central block contains the timber remains of a hall house with an original two-room and cross passage plan, featuring an undershot cross passage, a service room at the south end with a solar above, and an open hall to the north.

The exterior presents a two-storey roughly symmetrical front with a wide central panelled door beneath an open timber and slate canopy. Four front windows are 20th century timber casements with glazing bars, as are windows on other elevations. A left gable end has a projecting stone stack with set-offs and brick chimney shaft. A rendered stack stands at the right gable. A single-storey lean-to is positioned to the right.

The interior of the main block retains substantial remains of the late medieval three-bay open hall house, with a solar at the southern end projecting over the former cross passage. The hall occupied the northern end bay and was originally open to the roof, with the first floor evidently inserted when the projecting rear cross wing extension was added, probably in the 17th century. The northern gable-end fireplace and chimney breast were likely added at the same time. A large inglenook fireplace with a later bread oven door was exposed during renovations.

Stairs rise on the inside back wall from the northern room to the first-floor landing, providing access to three first-floor chambers in the main block and a further room in the rear extension. The first floor is carried on a series of massive joists running axially along the building from the south end wall, jettied into the original hall.

The roof is constructed of relatively large timbers and remains largely a medieval structure, although the outer walls were raised slightly and new timbers added to the original ones to lower the pitch when the original thatch covering was replaced with slate. Three bays are carried on oak upper cruck trusses. The northern and western trusses are of similar construction with principals joined at the apex in a vertical butt joint secured by a horizontal slip tenon fixed by a peg on each side of the butt. The trusses support two sets of threaded purlins and a clasped diagonally set ridge. The common rafters are relatively wide and meet over the ridge where they are edge-halved together and held by a horizontal peg. Some soot blackening is visible on the structure. The third truss, against the south wall, is only partially exposed and of different construction, with the purlins resting on the back of principal rafters; it may be a later insertion to provide additional support for the purlins at the south end.

Structural evidence suggests that the cottage was widened by rebuilding the rear wall and extending the roof over it at some time after the cross wing had been added and the hall floored over. Finally, the lean-to extension and second chimney breast were added to the south gable.

Bell Tower Cottage is a former farmhouse dating from between 1420 and 1540. It is of special architectural interest for its rare variant plan form, including an undershot passage arrangement, the range and quality of its structural carpentry (notably the roof structure and upper-floor carpentry), and its remarkable degree of completeness, which allows the origin and development of the building to be read with confidence. Medieval two-room and cross-passage houses are rare nationally, and most identified examples are listed. The rare plan form, quality of structural carpentry, and degree of completeness at Bell Tower Cottage are of more than special interest.