Shelly Cottage

Shelly Cottage is a house dating from the mid-17th century, which was rearranged in the 19th century and extensively modernised in 1986. It is constructed from plastered cob on stone rubble footings, with a stone rubble stack featuring a granite ashlar chimney shaft, and has a thatched roof.

The house has a three-room plan and faces south. The larger central room was originally heated by an axial stack that backed onto the left room. There was initially a lobby entrance next to the stack, but in the late 19th century, this was blocked off, and a through passage was created at the right end of the central room, with an additional doorway added to the left room. In 1986, the central room was restored to its original size. The building is two storeys high.

The exterior features an irregular three-window front with late 19th to early 20th century horned four-pane sash windows, and both front doors are contemporary. The roof extends continuously with that of the adjacent Shelly House to the left and has a gable end to the right.

Inside, the central room has an unstopped ovolo-moulded crossbeam and lightly-moulded joists. The fireplace is made of granite and has an oak ovolo-moulded lintel with run-out stops. The roof consists of large A-frame trusses with pegged lap-jointed collars and shaped halvings.

South Zeal is notable as one of the few medieval boroughs in Devon, where a significant number of its 16th and 17th century buildings still remain.