(Pitt House) Including Stable Range Adjoining North

Pitt House, including the adjoining stable range to the north, is a substantial house on the north side of Ford Street in Moretonhampstead, dating from circa 1700 with probable remodelling of an earlier house and further modifications in the late 18th century.

The building is constructed of dressed granite brought to course, rendered at the ends and rear, with a steeply pitched dry slate roof featuring a gabled end, black-glazed ridge tiles, and plastered coved eaves cornice. The rendered granite chimneys have moulded granite caps and thatch weatherings; there are stacks at both gable ends (the east stack slightly projecting with a set) and an axial third stack to the right of centre on the ridge.

The house demonstrates significant architectural development. It probably originated as a 3-room-and-through-passage plan heated by gable end stacks, with the hall backing onto the passage. Around 1700 the house was heavily remodelled or rebuilt while retaining the passage, with reorientation so that the lower right room became the parlour and the former inner room became the kitchen. A stair tower was built at the rear of the hall and a dairy wing at the rear of the kitchen. In the late 18th century, a longitudinal passage in an outshut was constructed at the rear, providing independent access from the hall and parlour via the cross passage to the kitchen, dairy, and side entrance. A distinctive 2-storey canted bay at the rear of the right-hand end, probably dating from the circa 1700 remodelling, forms a large alcove internally and increases the size of both ground and first floor rooms. In the 19th century, rear leantos were added to fill spaces between the bay and stair tower, and between the stair tower and dairy wing.

The building is 2 storeys and attic. The front elevation displays seven closely spaced windows, symmetrical except for the doorway positioned in a bay to the right of centre. The original window openings retain late 19th or 20th century 4-pane sashes. The doorway features a wooden Tuscan doorcase with engaged columns and heavy entablature, with an original fielded-panel door (the middle panels being smaller).

The rear elevation comprises a central 2-storey stair tower with a hipped roof and large square-headed window opening with a later frame; a 2-storey canted bay to the left with a raking roof continued from the main roof and a later casement window (blocked below cill); and to the right a 2-storey service wing with a hipped slate roof. The late 18th century leanto passage outshut is 2 storeys to the right of the stair tower and single storey to the left, now enclosed within 20th century leantos either side of the stair tower.

Attached to the end of the dairy wing is a probably late 18th century stable with hay-loft above; the ground floor is granite rubble, possibly originally open-fronted with a timber-frame first floor (now plastered), facing the yard behind the house.

Interior

The greater part of the 18th-century internal joinery survives. The former hall, to the left of the cross passage, has a dado with fielded and bolection-moulded panelling, a bolection-moulded chimneypiece with plastered interior and bolection-moulded overmantel panel above, flanked by panelled cupboards (the right-hand cupboard with rounded head and later glazed doors). This room and the left-hand end room (the kitchen) have a cyma recta moulded ceiling cornice. Of the 18th-century staircase, only the top flight from first floor to attic survives; it is a dog-leg with closed string, square newels, turned balusters, and a heavy square hand rail with moulded capping. The balustrades in the attic and on the landing in front of the stair window feature serpentine splat balusters. Moulded plaster ceiling cornices appear in the first floor rooms, which have 18th-century doors with 2 fielded panels. Most front windows retain fielded panel internal shutters. The roof over the main range has been entirely replaced, probably in the 20th century, with softwood trusses. Only the stair tower roof and the rear service wing roof survive from the original structure; the service wing roof has trusses with morticed apexes and collars lapped on the faces of the principals with square pegs.

Pitt House exemplifies the development of the traditional plan to provide the improved accommodation expected by the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Substantial houses of this period are uncommon in Devon, and Pitt House is notably intact both internally and externally. The rear elevation is as important as the proportioned front, clearly demonstrating the evolution of this significant house.