Shelley'S Cottage (Part Of Rising Sun Hotel)

Shelley's Cottage, part of the Rising Sun Hotel, is a detached cottage dating from the 17th or 18th century. It is constructed of rendered cob or rubble with a thatched roof, although some tiles are present on the rear slope. The cottage has a two-unit plan with end and front lateral stacks serving the heated ground-floor rooms. It is located at the end of a row on Mars Hill, positioned at right angles and facing south.

The building is two storeys high and features a two-window range, all with casements. On the first floor, there are small gabled 'eyebrows' containing a single-light and a two-light window set in a thin mullion, above a 20th-century door. To the left, there is a large stepped square stack with an attached bread oven covered by slate roofing, and another stack is located on the right gable, which has a small light above French doors. The rear of the cottage has two 20th-century casements.

The interior has only been partially inspected and was seriously damaged by fire in 1907, showing no evidence of early features. Historically, this property is significant as it forms part of the Rising Sun Hotel and is one of two houses in Lynmouth that claim to be where the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley stayed for nine weeks in 1812 while writing 'Queen Mab'. The other claimant is Shelley's Cottage Hotel on Watersmeet Road, which has some secondary documentary evidence to support its claim, although local tradition suggests that the Mars Hill cottage is the more likely residence for the poet.