Ship Inn And Garden Walls

A public house, originally constructed as a house or lodgings in the first half of the 16th century. The building was extended in the 17th and 18th centuries with further mid-19th century additions and alterations. It was considerably remodelled as an inn during the 19th century and again in the 20th century.

Construction and Materials

The building is constructed of painted and part-rendered killas stone rubble, with granite dressings to the dining room building. The roofs are clad in local and Welsh slate, with some slate hanging to the gable ends of the east and west elevations. There is a chimneystack to the west gable end of the front range, an axial stack at its east end, and end gable stacks to the north end of both rear wings. The former dining-room has a pair of stacks in its south wall, one rebuilt in red brick.

Plan and Layout

The building occupies a sloping site and is a multi-phase structure with an accretional plan. It originated as a 16th-century open-hall house aligned west-east, of which the eastern four or five bays have largely been demolished. The hall was subsequently ceiled in. There is a 17th-century cross wing to the rear, possibly incorporating a former stair, and a second rear wing of 18th-century date. A catslide extension alongside the cross wing continues north to link with a mid-19th century single-storey block (the former dining-room) with semi-basement that is built into the slope.

Exterior

The asymmetrical principal (south) elevation has a projecting early 20th-century entrance porch with half-glazed door to the left-hand half and irregular windows, including two bay windows to the ground floor, multi-pane sash windows and some late 20th-century replacements. There is a further blocked opening towards the right-hand end of the building. Beyond this, the ruined walls of the demolished eastern end of the front range survive as boundary walls and provide evidence for the original extent of the building.

The east return has a doorway at first floor, accessed by timber staircase, and mostly late 20th-century windows and a plank and batten door to the single-storey lean-to which runs northwards to the rear of the front range. The north (rear) elevation lacks window openings except for a single casement at first-floor and there is a projecting, stepped stone chimneystack and two smaller stacks. The west return has two sash windows and an entrance door to the ground floor and three windows above, one being a horizontal sliding sash.

The former dining-room to the north is separated from the main body of the building by a small courtyard. Its north (front) elevation has three tall sash windows with glazing bars, set under granite lintels and a mid-19th century entrance door to the far left bay. There is a further sash window in the east wall and the west elevation has a blind window reveal at first-floor and a two-light window below, both with granite cills and lintels.

Interior

The interior has been modified, largely as a result of late 20th-century refurbishment. The ground floor of the front range contains three rooms, divided by stone rubble walls that only rise to first-floor level. The fireplaces in each have been largely reconstructed. The right-hand (east) room retains a cupboard with H-shaped hinges to the doors. An enclosed stair rises to a half landing and divides to give access to the first floor of the front range. This stair dates from the late 17th or early 18th century and has turned balusters and newel posts.

The upper floor is presently sub-divided into three main rooms plus a kitchen and a bathroom, with a narrow corridor to the north. The left-hand (west) room has a late 16th or early 17th-century moulded plaster cornice to the west and south walls and exposed chamfered roof trusses; the fireplace has a mid-20th century surround. The room at the east end of the range has a fireplace with slate surround and cast iron grate.

The roof structure to the front range is virtually complete and dates to the first half of the 16th century, with smoke-stained timbers from end to end. It comprises eight arched collar-braced trusses. The trusses are faired into a curve with the collar and both the principals and the collar are chamfered. There are three rows of purlins, also chamfered. The common rafters appear to be very largely original, and there is evidence for two closed trusses.

Openings in the north wall of the front range lead through to the ground-floor of the former rear wings; those at first-floor are blocked. Partition walls have been removed here to create a large bar area. A winder staircase off this room leads to the first floor. Upstairs, the rooms retain some early 19th-century fittings such as joinery and a fireplace, the others are blocked. The roof carpentry over the western part which runs parallel to the front range has trusses that are 18th or 19th century in character; those to the eastern part are set at right angles and consist of three A frame trusses with pegged collars. The purlins are trenched into the backs of the truss blades.

The former dining-room has had late 20th-century toilet facilities installed in part of its basement and does retain some blocked fireplaces and tiled floors. The ground-floor room is a high-ceilinged space with two blocked fireplaces in the south wall. It has a king post roof with a single row of purlins.

Historical Context

Tavistock Abbey had established a port on the River Tamar at Morwellham by the 12th century. It is one of the earliest documented quays on the river and it soon became an important port that served the local area as well as the Abbey. Goods such as food, wines and building materials were imported through the port, while by the 12th century tin ore was exported, followed by lead and silver ores a century later.

Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Morwellham was granted to Lord John Russell, later the Duke of Bedford. The completion of the Tavistock Canal in 1817 and the construction of an incline to Morwellham ensured that the port flourished as a mineral export centre for the Tamar Valley during the 19th century.

There is a 13th-century documentary reference to a 'house of the quay' at Morwellham and the front range of the Ship Inn is considered to have been built as its replacement. In a 1765-69 survey of the village only one 'large dwelling house' is mentioned, probably referring to what is now the Ship Inn. This is located in the centre of the village, occupying a prominent position, and is a complex building of various periods.

The building originated as a late medieval open hall house which possibly provided lodging accommodation for itinerate workers at the port. The building originally extended some 9 metres further eastwards, and was truncated in the late 1920s; the ruined walls of its former eastern end survive as garden boundary walls. The open hall appears to have been ceiled over in stages during the 17th century, and the building was subsequently adapted into a lobby entry house probably in the early 18th century. During this period it was also extended to the rear with the addition of two-storey wings.

By the early 19th century, the building had been converted to a public house. In 1857 a rectangular building was added to the north to accommodate a dining-room and possibly kitchen facilities (converted to a museum and toilets respectively in the late 20th century) for the pub; the two connected by a single-storey lean-to range. It remained a public house until at least the 1930s. Other parts of the building—the front range, the former dining-room, and the two rear wings—appear to have been converted into three dwellings, the latter known as Higman's Cottage.

Following a period when it was unoccupied, the Ship Inn was refurbished and reopened as a public house in 1972. The building has thus experienced some 20th-century alterations, including the replacement of some of its windows and the restoration of historic features such as the opening up of some fireplaces.