Hole Cottages

Hole Cottages comprise two cottages, originally a single farmhouse, dating to the early or mid 16th century with significant enhancements in the later 16th and 17th centuries. Modern subdivision occurred in the mid 20th century. The walls are plastered cob on stone rubble footings, with stone rubble stacks topped with plastered brick. The roof is slate, having been thatched originally.

The original plan was for a 3-room-and-through-passage house built across a hillside facing northwest. Number 1, at the northeastern end, occupies the former inner room (parlour) and hall. The parlour has a gable-end stack. The hall has been subdivided to create an entrance hall, staircase, and sitting room. It features an axial stack backing onto the former through passage. Number 2 occupies the former through-passage and service-end kitchen, which has an end stack. The house exhibits a multi-phase development typical of Devon farmhouses, with late medieval origins. Little of the original building remains, but the hall was initially open to the roof. A stack was inserted into the hall in the late 16th century, and the hall was floored probably in the mid 17th century. The service end and inner room were extensively refurbished in the early or mid 17th century, serving as a kitchen and parlour respectively.

The cottages are now two storeys throughout. The front elevation has an irregular 5-window arrangement of 20th-century casements with glazing bars. Both cottages have 20th-century doors; the one to Number 2 is in the passage front doorway, and the door to Number 1 has been altered and includes a 20th-century slate monopitch-roofed porch. A 20th-century lean-to woodshed extends from the left end. The roof is gable-ended.

Inside Number 1, the axial beam in the former parlour has a soffit-chamfered finish with unusual facetted stops. This room's fireplace has a plain soffit-chamfered oak lintel. A cob cross wall separates the parlour and hall. The hall features a large granite ashlar fireplace and a plain soffit-chamfered crossbeam. In Number 2, the passage and kitchen have been combined. A crossbeam likely marks the line of the former lower passage screen. The service-end kitchen has a soffit-chamfered axial beam with step-stopped ends. The large kitchen fireplace is blocked, though part of its oak lintel remains visible. Most of the joinery detail in both cottages is 20th century. The roof space over the hall retains an original 3-bay section, supported by two side-pegged jointed cruck trusses with cambered collars and threaded purlins; it is smoke-blackened from the original open hearth.