Lower Narracott Cottage

The Lower Narracott Cottage is a house, originally a farmhouse, dating to approximately the late 15th century, with alterations in the 17th century. It is constructed of plastered cob with stone rubble, and has a thatched roof covered with corrugated-iron sheets. A stone rubble axial stack features a brick shaft.

The original plan was a two-room layout with a through-passage facing south, open to the roof and initially heated by an open hearth fire. Around the 17th century, floors were inserted, an axial stack was built at the lower end of the hall backing onto the passage, and the unheated lower end of the house was divided into two service rooms. A large outbuilding was added to the lower left (west) end in the 18th or early 19th century.

The south front presents an asymmetrical three-window facade with small 19th-century two-light casement windows without glazing bars, and a doorway to the left of center with a plank door. A rear (north) doorway is located to the right of center, with an altered original doorframe, a 20th-century porch, and windows to the left and right. The outbuilding has plastered cob and stone rubble walls and a slate hipped roof.

Inside, remnants of a plank-and-muntin screen and a heavy oak beam are visible on the lower side of the passage, along with arched doorframes on both sides of the passage. The unheated lower end room contains a chamfered cross-beam and a later axial partition. The hall fireplace features a roughly chamfered timber bressumer with a hollow step stop at one end, and a 20th-century arched fireplace built into the original. The inserted hall floor rests on roughly hewn, closely-spaced joists supported by a beam against the end wall, which is in turn supported by a timber post. The head of the hall’s front window is positioned above the inserted floor level, with splayed reveals and curved infilling at the base; a similar feature is present at the rear of the hall. A straight staircase is located at the back of the hall, with an 18th-century plank side. The chambers retain their ceilings, but the roof trusses are visible. The hall has a side-pegged jointed cruck truss, and another with a mutilated blade and straight principals set on a wall-plate at the lower end. The roof structure includes threaded purlins, a diagonally-set ridgepiece, a small hip-cruck at the low end, and thatching battens—all smoke-blackened, except for the original thatch over the lower end. Plank doors are found throughout. The outbuilding contains a 19th-century four-bay roof with tie-beam trusses, and a stone set floor.

Lower Narracott is a good example of a small, late medieval Devon house, originally open to the roof and heated by an open hearth.