43, East Street

ASHBURTON

SX7569 EAST STREET 849-1/10/53 (North side) No.43

GV II

House. Late medieval. Originally extended further to right and may have extended further left. Remodelled in its present form, perhaps in C18; superficially altered and addition built at rear, probably in C19. Very thick roughcast front wall. Slated roof. C19 red-brick chimney on left gable end. Large rendered chimney with tapered cap on rear wall, to left. 2-room-and-cross-passage with C20 staircase at rear of passage. Latter is off-centre to right, but this medieval-type plan seems unlikely to be earlier than late C17. 2 storeys. 3 windows wide. 4-panelled centre door, the 2 lower panels flush, the 2 upper panels now glazed. Ground storey windows have 2-paned sashes in recessed box-frames. Upper storey windows have C20 metal casements. Coved eaves-cornice. Interior: left-hand ground storey room has in rear wall a partly blocked C16 fireplace with chamfered and moulded wood lintel; above the chamfer a deeply sculpted hollow moulding and above that the hacked-back mark of a former cornice. Ovolo-moulded lengthways early or mid C17 ceiling beam with Tudor roses and lozenges carved on its soffit; scroll-stops at left-hand end, those to right cut off or buried by solid wall next to passage. Matching half-beam with plain soffit, against chimneybreast. Right side of latter curved as if for a staircase. Room to right has mid or late C18 panelled door with flush bottom panels. Roof has complete or almost complete set of 4 or 5 blackened trusses, probably sooted from an open hearth. Most have been mutilated, but the right-hand truss is in its original condition with cranked collar, threaded purlins, no ridge. Some purlins survive elsewhere in roof. C19 lath and plaster wall at right-hand end, next to No 45; thin stone rubble wall to left, next to No 41. No 2 Hurst Court (qv) may originally have been the rear wing of this house.

Listing NGR: SX7573969980