Bishops House

Bishops House, comprising two cottages now numbered 3 and 5 Lower Street, was originally a single house dating from the early 16th century. The building underwent substantial improvements in the later 16th and 17th centuries before being subdivided, probably in the late 19th or early 20th century. It is constructed of plastered granite with a granite stack and plastered chimney shaft, roofed in thatch.

The original building followed a three-room-and-through-passage plan, oriented to face north-west and set back from the street. No. 3 now occupies the former hall and inner room to the right of the passage, whilst No. 5 occupies the former service end room. The original house was open to the roof along its entire length and was heated by an open hearth fire. During the later 16th and 17th centuries, a fireplace was inserted and the rooms were progressively floored over. A two-storey front porch was added in the late 16th or early 17th century, with its upper room belonging to No. 5. Both cottages have 20th-century service outshots to the rear.

The main block is two storeys with a gabled roof. The front elevation displays a 1:1:2-window arrangement, mostly fitted with 20th-century iron or timber-framed casements with glazing bars. The porch is gabled, with its upper room jettying forward on moulded granite corbels resting on rubble side walls, the right one being particularly thick as it contains the hall fireplace oven housing. To the left of the porch is a 17th-century oriel window on the first floor porch room with canted sides, resting on shaped oak brackets, though the lights are now blocked. A 19th-century plank door has been inserted alongside the porch into the service end room, whilst the front passage doorway retains its original arch-headed oak frame, visible only from the rear, with a similar later door.

The interior reveals the building's complex development. Both sides of the passage are stone rubble walls, and the lower side doorway has been blocked. The hall in No. 3 contains the only fireplace in the entire house, a large granite structure probably dating to the late 16th century, with a hollow-chamfered surround and blocked side oven. At the upper end stands an oak plank-and-muntin screen, probably an original low partition, with chamfered muntins featuring straight cut stops high enough for an upper end bench and a shoulder-headed door.

The inner room was probably floored in the mid 16th century when the chamber was jettied into the hall, with the rounded ends of the joists projecting over the screen. A trimmer in the inner room marks the position of the former ladder access to the chamber. The hall itself was floored in the early 17th century, with deeply chamfered crossbeams featuring step stops. At this time a newel stair was provided to the rear of the hall, with an ovolo-moulded oak doorframe and steps formed from baulks of oak. Two chamfered and step-stopped doorframes lead from a tight landing to the first floor chambers. Many of the doors in this section are very old and some may be original. The service end room in No. 5 has a plain axial beam of indeterminate date, with a 19th-century winder stair.

The roof spans four bays overall. The lower end truss is a true cruck, whilst the hall contains a side-pegged jointed cruck with a cambered collar. Another cruck has been closed between the hall and inner room chambers. The roofspace is inaccessible but smoke-blackened timbers and thatch are visible, indicating preservation of early fabric. This is a very well-preserved multi-phase house.