Description

DARTMOUTH

SX874510 HIGHER STREET
673-1/8/148 (East side)
11/12/69 No.5
(Formerly Listed as:
HIGHER STREET
No.5
Tudor House)

GV II*

Merchant's house with shop. Medieval site. Main house of c1635
but parts of rear may be earlier; major repair programme
c1960. Mixed construction; timber-framed front with stone
rubble rear and side walls; stone stacks to front side walls
with c1960 brick chimneyshafts; slate roof.
PLAN: Built end onto the street, house is 3 rooms deep divided
by stone crosswalls. Newel stair in an alcove in the north
side wall in the narrow centre section behind a side passage
through the front part.
EXTERIOR: Front is 3 storeys with attics in the roofspace,
middle section is 2 storeys and rear part is single storey.
Well-preserved one-bay ornamental front, jettied with ends of
the side walls corbelled out at each floor and gabled roof.
Ground floor is a C20 shop front, probably a repair of the C19
one. Uneven bays with side passage door recessed at left end,
2 steps to C20 plank door and plain overlight. Shop doorway
recessed right of centre, C20 glazed door with overlight. Shop
windows with glazing bars and brick ventilators below. C17
moulded small-panel framing to first and second floors.
Windows are mostly original, mullioned, reglazed with iron
casements and containing diamond panes of leaded glass
(reusing a good number of old panes). First floor has
continuous range of windows with splendid wide central oriel,
5:5 front lights with king mullion, corner posts and
second-floor fascia board richly carved. Oriel on 5 brackets
carved mostly as fabulous beasts. 2 second-floor oriels are
smaller versions with 4 forward lights and share a slated
lean-to roof. Attic storey not jettied and it is slate-hung
containing a central 3-light casement. Gabled roof, with old
probably-original carved bargeboards, projects forward and is
supported on carved oak brackets resting against the party
walls. Roof steps down to the middle room and again to the
rear section which includes various C19 and C20 windows.
INTERIOR: Front part is wholly C17 and very well-preserved.
Ground floor spanned by plain-chamfered crossbeam. Side
passage lined by moulded plank-and-muntin screen but original
doorcase contains late C20 door. C20 stair to first floor.
Front principal parlour has plastered crossbeam with C20
partition below. Original ornamental plaster ceiling, single
rib pattern enriched with large angle sprays and cherub heads.
Fireplace has oak lintel, moulded with low Tudor arch (2
smaller versions on second floor). Newel stair to second floor
rising round mast-like post. 2 second-floor front chambers
divided by axial scratch-moulded plank-and-muntin screen and
each with fireplace. 3-bay roof of A-frame trusses with pegged
dovetail-shaped lap-jointed collars and butt purlins. Stair to
attic within the front block.
Apart from the newel stair and a C19 door with C17 carved
frieze reset against a wall, nothing of antiquity shows in the
rear parts although the walls are very thick. Roofs here are
inaccessible and ceilings are plastered.
An exceptionally well-preserved high-quality merchant's house.
(Transactions of the Devonshire Association: O'Neil RH StJ:
The Old House Known as Number Five, Higher Street, Dartmouth:
1951-: P.267-271).

Listing NGR: SX8779451270

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17533829

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)