18, Market Street

House, Market Street, Hatherleigh

This is a house dating from around 1500, with alterations and additions made in the early 16th century, early 17th century, and 17th century. The building is constructed of rendered rubble and cob walls beneath a gable-ended thatch roof. A projecting coursed rubble lateral stack stands at the front, incorporating some large squared stones, with a tall shaft, dripcourse, and tapering cap. There is also a brick axial stack.

The original plan follows a 2-room-and-through-passage arrangement, with the hall on the left and a lower room on the right. The hall was originally built as an open room with a central hearth. The lower room was probably also originally open to the roof, though direct evidence is lacking as the roof has been replaced. In the first half of the 16th century, a chamber was constructed above the passage and jetted out into the hall. In the later 16th or early 17th century, the hall stack was added to its front wall and a ceiling inserted, possibly in consecutive stages. The date when the lower room was floored over and its stack inserted backing onto the passage is less certain, but this likely occurred by the mid-17th century. Two rear wings were added during the 17th century: the wing behind the hall incorporates a winder staircase which opens beyond it, and the wing behind the lower room was probably entirely for non-domestic use, though the part nearest the house has since been converted and is now accessed from the lower room.

The exterior presents two storeys with an asymmetrical three-window front. Windows are uniform late 20th-century leaded pane three-light casements, except for a two-light casement on the first floor to the right. The windows on the left-hand side are contained within a two-storey bay, and the central first-floor window above the doorway is an oriel, probably reconstructed. To the right, the ground-floor window is also a bay with a carved 17th-century timber bracket below. A central wide four-panelled door of uncertain date, but probably constructed from old timber, occupies the entrance. The rear elevation features two long slate-roofed wings projecting from either side. Between them is an original medieval round-headed doorframe, above which is a 17th-century three-light window with chamfered wooden mullions.

The interior is of considerable quality and architectural interest. Between the passage and the hall is a plank-and-muntin screen that is either original or contemporary with the internal jetty. Its muntins are chamfered and scratch-moulded on the passage side, with mason's mitres and an ovolo-moulded headbeam. A square doorframe has been inserted into what was originally, to judge by the mouldings on the original jambs, an arched doorway. Two small windows with two-light tracery have been cut into the screen towards the front. On the hall side the muntins are simply chamfered. Running above the screen into the hall approximately one foot above it are the internal jetty joists, which are chamfered with curved ends, some cut off. The hall ceiling consists of three cross beams, the two outer ones being half beams, all chamfered with straight-cut stops. An open fireplace has a chamfered wooden lintel with a small squint featuring an arched head in its rear right-hand corner. At the rear of the hall is a 17th-century chamfered doorframe leading to the rear wing. Adjoining it is a contemporary winder staircase with a newel post topped by an acorn finial.

The roof structure is of exceptional importance, preserving a complete smoke-blackened medieval roof over the hall and passage with a pair of raised cracks having a cranked morticed collar, threaded purlins, and a diagonal trenched ridge. The original common rafters, battens, and thatch survive. The higher end wall is smoke-blackened, whilst that at the lower end is not and was probably inserted. The jetty partition was inserted under the truss up to its collar and is also smoke-blackened, more lightly on the passage side. The roof over the lower end has a clean truss with crossed apex, probably dating from the late 18th or 19th century. The barn behind the left-hand end features a later 17th-century truss consisting of straight principals with halved collar.

This is a very complete example of a developed multi-phase medieval town house, preserving many interesting features of significant architectural and historical value.