Church Cottage

Church Cottage is a small cottage dating to the mid-16th century, which underwent a significant modernization in the early 17th century. It is constructed of coursed blocks of massive granite ashlar, with some granite rubble patching, granite ashlar stack and chimney shaft, and a slate roof, originally thatched. The cottage was initially built as a two-room plan, adjoining the churchyard and facing north. The larger, west room was originally an open hall heated by an open hearth fire; the smaller east room was unheated and not floored. In the early 17th century, a stack was inserted and the hall was floored over. A secondary outshot was added to the rear. The main house is two storeys high.

The front elevation has an irregular appearance with early 20th-century casement windows with glazing bars. The front door is roughly central and contains a 20th-century plank door set within a probably 19th-century, solid oak frame with a bead-moulded surround. The churchyard lych gate abuts the left end of the front. The roof is gable-ended. Similar windows are visible on the left end facing the churchyard. On the right end, to the right of the chimney stack, there is an early 17th-century granite-mullioned two-light window with hoodmould to each floor.

The interior appears well-preserved, though much of the structure is concealed by 19th and 20th-century plaster. Within the roofspace, the top of an oak-framed full-height crosswall is visible. The roof over the hall reveals a smoke-blackened cruck truss and the hall side of the crosswall, evidence of the original open hearth fire. The early 17th-century fireplace is now blocked by a 20th-century grate. The hall is floored with an early 17th-century soffit-chamfered and step-stopped crossbeam.

The cottage’s significance lies in its small size, age, and high-quality early work. It has been of its present dimensions since the early 17th-century refurbishment. It occupies an important central location in Drewsteignton village, forming part of a group of listed buildings around the Church of Holy Trinity. A plaque on the front, sheltered by the lych-gate roof, commemorates the purchase of the cottage by parish subscription in memory of William Ponsford of Ford House, who died in 1931.