Church Stile Cottage

Church Stile Cottage is a 16th-century cottage, significantly altered in the late 17th century when the original larger house was divided into cottages. It is constructed of plastered granite, with cob and timber framing above first-floor level at the rear, and has a granite stack with a granite ashlar chimney shaft and a thatched roof. The cottage originally formed part of a larger house and now stands set back a little, facing onto Chagford High Street to the northeast. It has a 2-room deep plan, with the larger, front room (originally the hall of a 3-room-and-through-passage plan house) having an axial stack on the right (northwest) side, backing onto a wide passage leading to a row of cottages behind. A chamber sits above this passage and the cottage also includes a smaller, unheated service room at the rear. A disused newel stair turret, which originally projected to the rear of the main room behind the stack, is present. The cottage has an irregular 2-window front with casement windows of various sizes and different dates, all containing rectangular panes of leaded glass. The chamber window above the passage has small panes of old glass, likely dating to the late 17th century. The front doorway has a plain oak frame with a studded plank door hung on strap hinges with fleur-de-lys finials, lying behind a gabled porch with slate roofing and stone benches. The roof extends across the front, abutting the adjoining properties, with the roof of the rear block running at a right angle and continuing with the roof of the cottage behind. Inside, the oldest feature is a large 16th-century granite ashlar fireplace with a hollow-chamfered surround and a side oven; the back of the fireplace is exposed in the passage with granite ashlar featuring a chamfered plinth and cornice, and a large moulded corbel of unknown function. The carpentry detail is all late 17th century, and the main room has a soffit-chamfered crossbeam. The three-bay roof above is inaccessible, but the scantling of the feet of the A-frame trusses suggests it too is late 17th century.