3-8, Elliott Plain

This is a row of six cottages located at 3-8 Elliott Plain in Buckfastleigh. The frontages date from around the 1830s, but the core of the building may be from the 17th century. The cottages are constructed with roughcast mass wall construction, with some being colour-washed. They have an asbestos slate roof that is gabled at the ends, and there is one axial stack with old chimney pots, along with two rear lateral stacks—one of which is shouldered and projecting, featuring rendered shafts and drip ledges.

The plan consists of a single-depth main block, with each cottage being one room wide and having a single-storey rear service lean-to. Based on the position and appearance of the stacks, it is suggested that the left end of the range may have originally been a three-room house with a through passage, although this evidence is uncertain. The first floors are arranged as flying freeholds.

The exterior of the cottages is two storeys high, with each cottage having an asymmetrical one-window front. Cottages 8 and 10 have front doors on the left, while the others have doors on the right. Each cottage features matching late 19th-century or early 20th-century recessed half-glazed timber doors with overlights. There is one matching 19th-century ground-floor three-light timber casement window with three panes per light, and one first-floor 16-pane early 19th-century hornless sash window. The left end cottage, No. 8, has one ground-floor and one first-floor three-light casement window, each with three panes per light. The rear elevations retain three-light casements that match those on the front.

The interior may have features of interest. Cottages 3 and 5 were partially inspected and have been modernised, but the party walls indicate a rearrangement of the earlier plan form.