Nos 1 And 2 Bellacouch Cottages Including Garden Wall Adjoinng To South-East

A pair of cottages, originally a single house, dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, situated on Chagford High Street. The cottages are constructed primarily of plastered granite, with a prominent south-west gable of large blocks of coursed granite ashlar. They have granite stacks with granite ashlar detailing and a thatched roof. The original plan was a 4-room-and-through-passage layout, backing onto the churchyard and facing south-east. Number 1 occupies the hall and inner room on the south-west side of the passage, featuring a large axial stack backing onto the passage. Number 2 occupies the 2 rooms at the service end, likely a former dairy/larder and kitchen, with a gable end stack. A projecting newel stair turret is located at the rear, to the right of the passage. The house appears to have begun as an open hall house, with the oldest visible features dating from the early to mid-17th century, although the layout suggests an earlier origin. The cottages are now two storeys throughout.

The exterior has an irregular 4-window front. The ground floor windows mostly contain 19th-century casements with glazing bars, one fitted with external iron security bars. The first floor windows feature smaller, 17th-century oak-framed casements with chamfered mullions and rectangular panes of leaded glass. Some original iron casements remain, with wrought iron catches. A similar window over the rear passage door and stair turret has a 2-light design, and the rear of Number 1 has two 18th-century flat-faced mullion casements. The front passage doorway has a 19th-century part-glazed panelled door, while the rear passage doorway has a similar panelled door. The roof is gable-ended on the right and half-hipped on the left.

During a survey, only Number 1 (the former hall and inner room) and the passage were accessible. The back of the hall stack in the passage is granite ashlar with a chamfered plinth and a soffit-chamfered cornice. The passage walls are lined with early to mid-17th century oak plank-and-muntin screens, featuring shallow mouldings to the muntins. Both cottage doorways have 18th-century 2-fielded panel doors. Within the hall of Number 1, there is a large plain granite ashlar fireplace and a 17th-century soffit-moulded and scroll-stopped crossbeam. Other carpentry features are plastered over, and the roof is inaccessible, although the plastered base of an A-frame truss is visible above the hall. A front garden is enclosed by a granite stone rubble wall with steeply-weathered coping. The cottages are located in an attractive setting next to the churchyard and are close to other listed buildings on Chagford High Street.