The Valiant Soldier, Including Rear Wing

BUCKFASTLEIGH

SX7466 FORE STREET 1011-1/7/99 (North side) The Valiant Soldier, including rear wing

GV II

House, at one time public house, including rear right (NE) wing (partly in separate ownership). Probably C17 in origin, the main block altered in the late C19. Main block roughcast, rear elevation cement-rendered and blocked out; natural slate roof, gabled at ends with crested ridge tiles. Rear wing partly slate-hung; roof partly corrugated asbestos; stacks with stone rubble shafts. Plan: the main block is 2 rooms wide with a cartway at the left end giving access to a court. The rear right wing faces onto the court and consists of a domestic block with a stable block to the rear. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 2:2-window front under separate roofs, the left hand roof lower. Deep eaves. The lower roofed block, to the left has a cartway to left, 2 ground-floor probably late C19 tripartite plate-glass horned sashes, two 4-pane first-floor horned sashes. The right-hand block has a recessed 6-panel door to the right with a tripartite sash to right, two 4-pane sashes above, matching the others. Pub name on panel on first floor. Rear elevation is very irregular, suggesting a pre-C19 core. The rear wing is under 2 separate roofs: the section nearest the main block is domestic in function with a first-floor 12-pane boxed sash window. The (disused) rear section of the wing has a cart entrance at the left end and 3 stable entrances, 2 with segmental-headed brick arches and 4 small unglazed windows, one with mullions; 2 first-floor loft openings, one with mullions. The roof has been reduced in height and a stack at the junction of the domestic part and stable part of the wing appears originally to have served the stable range. INTERIOR: not accessible but likely to be of interest. Historical note: the court has been variously called Bastows Court, Hunt's Court or Hayman's Court. It is one of the larger courts on the N side of Fore Street, formerly with cottages facing into it but now with a building in light industrial use in the centre. It was formerly partly in use as a butcher's business. The court extends down to the River Mardle at the N end, which is culverted to give easy access, perhaps for cattle, from the fields on the other side.

Listing NGR: SX7409166141