Description

CULMSTOCK THE CLEEVE, Culmstock
ST 11 SW
10/46 Craven Cottage, Cleeve Cottage
- and Cobblestones
- II

3 cottages, formerly 4 cottages made by subdivision of a single house. Late C16 -
early C17 house, rearranged and enlarged in the late C17 when divided into cottages,
all modernised between circa 1970 - 86. Plastered walls, parts are cob on stone
rubble footing, some is all stone rubble; stone rubble and cob stacks topped with
C20 brick; thatch roof.
Plan and development: 3 adjoining cottages in a complicated building. It is
basically an H-plan building facing south, a short main block with crosswings each
end. Cobblestones occupies the rear part of the left (western) crosswing. It has a
2-room plan with a large former kitchen gable-end stack. There is a probably C19
extension behind and a C20 service room projecting out the side. Cleeve Cottage
occupies the front part of the crosswing. It has a 3-room plan with 2 rooms in the
crosswing proper and a secondary third room projecting out (west) of the front. The
third room has a stack on the outer side. The larger of the 2 rooms is the rear one
and it has a lateral stack backing onto the main range (Craven Cottage). The rest
of the building is occupied by Craven Cottage which has united 2 of the late C17
cottages. The main block has a through passage to right of 2 rooms divided by an
axial partition. The larger front room has an end stack backing onto the one in
Cleeve Cottage. The right (east) crosswing does not project forward. It is 2 rooms
deep with a staircase between. Both these rooms have outer lateral stacks.
Because of the later alterations it is difficult to work out the layout of the
original house. Nevertheless it is possible to interpret the main block as the hall
with through-passage at the lower end and fireplace at the upper end. Since a cruck
foot descends in front of the rear wall it seems that the rear wall has been moved
back, probably in the late C17 subdivision of the property. The axial partition is
an original screen but has probably been reset here. The hall could have been open
to the roof up to the late C17. The right crosswing is also original. The rear
part (Cobblestones) was evidently the kitchen. The newel stair here however was
probably built in the late C17. The front part (Cleeve) appears to have been a
large heated room of unknown function, maybe the parlour. The fireplace and newel
stair here are thought to be original. This wing was floored from the beginning.
The third room of Cleeve Cottage was added as part of the late C17 subdivision. The
eastern crosswing (Craven Cottage) seems to be a complete late C17 rebuild, and then
a self-contained cottage entered from the passage through the main block. The
fireplace in the rear room here may be a C19 insertion. All 3 cottages are 2
storeys.
Exterior: because of the late C17 extension Cleeve Cottages faces forward (south)
and has an irregular 3-window front of mostly late C17 casements containing
rectangular panes of leaded glass but 2 have been replaced by C20 casements with
glazing bars. Doorway left of centre contains a C20 door behind a contemporary
shingled porch. The roof is hipped to right and half-hippped to left. Set back
Craven Cottage has a symmetrical 3-window front of late C17 casements, most lights
still containing a part-glazed 6-panel door behind a C20 gabled porch. The passage
front doorway is central and contains rectangular panes of leaded glass. The
symmetry is upset by the gabled end of the right crosswing but this adds interest to
this pretty building. Cobblestones is at the back and faces west. It has a 2-
window front of circa 1980 replacement casements some of which retain late C17 iron
casements containing rectangular panes of leaded glass. The doorway is into the C20
service extension.
Interior: the basic structure of the main block (Craven) and west crosswing
(Cobblestones and Cleeve) is original. The roof is supported on a series of side-
pegged jointed cruck trusses. In the crosswing both the original rooms had 3-bay
ceilings carved by soffit-chamfered crossbeams with straight cut stops. The former
kitchen fireplace (Cobblestones) is very large. It is built of volcanic ashlar and
there is the blocked doorway of a large oven in the back. The soffit-chamfered oak
lintel is carried over across what is now an entrance lobby but what was originally
a walk-in curing chamber. In the front (Cleeve) the oak lintel of the blocked
fireplace is exposed and the newel stair has crank-headed oak door-frame on the
first floor. The former hall fireplace (in Craven) is blocked. The reset partition
here is an oak plank-and-muntin screen with plain-finished muntins and containing a
crank-headed doorway. The wattle-and-daub partition on the first floor above is
probably late C17. The late C17 carpentry detail, where it shows is plain. The
roof of the eastern crosswing (Craven) is carried on a series of A-frame trusses
with pegged dovetail-shaped lap-jointed collars (a late example of this detail).
Most joinery detail is C19 but there is, in Cobblestones, an attractive late C17
door to the newel stair; 2 fielded panels, the top one nowy-headed.
This group of cottages, by tradition weavers' cottages, make up a very attractive
building and it is very unusal for so many early windows to survive. They also form
part of a group of attractive buildings in the vicinity of the Church of All Saints
( q.v). These cottages have been inspected by Commander EHD Williams whose
interpretation of the building is much the same as that above.
Source: Description and plan by Commander EHD Williams in NMR.

Listing NGR: ST1029413562

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26400297

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

• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living