The Oxenham Arms

The Oxenham Arms

An inn and former manor house, once the home of the Burgoyne family. The building dates from the late 16th or early 17th century, with parts possibly earlier, and has undergone modernisations in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. It is constructed primarily of large blocks of coursed granite ashlar, with granite rubble to the rear. The chimneys are granite with ashlar shafts. The roof is slate, though it was formerly thatched.

The house follows a courtyard plan. The main block fronts north-east onto the street, set back slightly, and is organised on a 2-room plan with a through passage between them and a wide carriageway through the left (south-east) end. The left room, now the bar, was probably originally a parlour and contains an end stack backing onto the carriageway, with a large alcove that once held a newel stair. The chamber above the carriageway has a gable-end stack. The right room, now a lounge, has a rear lateral stack with a small lobby between it and the passage. A 2-storey front porch serves the passage entrance.

The original kitchen, now the dining room, occupies a rear block projecting at right angles behind the hall and features an enormous stack backing onto the hall fireplace. The former hall and kitchen are connected by a narrow corridor alongside the stack. An original wing with an end stack projects at right angles to the rear of the front parlour. The precise development of the rear is difficult to determine owing to 19th and 20th century modernisations. The space between the two rear wings appears to have been filled quite early, probably in the 17th century. The passage extends back, and this section now contains the main stair. The parlour wing has been extended back through more than one building phase and now contains the kitchen. The rear courtyard was covered over in the 20th century, with 20th century service buildings across the rear. The building is 2 storeys throughout.

The exterior displays a regular though not symmetrical front with a 3:1:2 window arrangement. The gabled porch at the passage entrance features a 2-centred outer arch of moulded granite atop a flight of granite steps. The porch has a barrel vaulted ceiling with narrow granite ribs springing from corbels and slit windows on each side. Above the outer arch is a 3-light granite-mullioned window with elliptical-headed lights, sunken spandrels and a hoodmould. On each side of the porch are 2 granite-mullioned windows with hoodmoulds; those to the right (the hall) are slightly taller than those to the left (the front parlour). Three of these are 3-light windows and one of the hall windows contains 4 lights, all with rectangular panes of leaded glass. First floor windows and a small ground floor window immediately left of the porch are 20th century casements without glazing bars. At the left end is a very fine carriageway with a wide Tudor arch featuring a moulded surround, sunken spandrels and a hoodmould, with the initials B and W carved on the labels. The roof is gable-ended. The rear displays mostly 20th century casements, though the rear parlour retains an original 4-light granite-mullioned window with hoodmould.

The interior carpentry is relatively plain throughout. All rooms contain large soffit-chamfered beams, with only the one in the rear parlour having step-stops. The hall features a large granite ashlar fireplace with a hollow-chamfered surround; a smaller version above once served the chamber but is now in a corridor. The kitchen behind contains an enormous fireplace with a soffit-chamfered oak lintel. The front parlour fireplace is blocked by a 20th century grate. The rear parlour stack has been rebuilt. It is unclear whether the ground floor originally had a fireplace, though the chamber above has a partly rebuilt hooded fireplace. Several 16th and 17th century doorframes survive, notably a round-headed one to the rear of the front passage containing an old studded plank door. Others are Tudor arches. There are also some old studded panelled oak doors. The kitchen wing roof is carried on a side-pegged jointed cruck truss, while the rest of the roof was probably replaced in the 18th century by A-frame trusses with pegged and spiked lap-jointed collars. One of the most interesting features is an enormous upright slab of granite built into the inner wall of the rear parlour, which resembles a prehistoric standing stone. It appears the house was built around it. The present main stairs date from the late 19th century.

The Oxenham Arms possesses one of the most attractive facades of any building of its period in Devon. South Zeal is one of the few medieval boroughs in Devon where many of its 16th and 17th century houses still survive.