Description

BRIXHAM

SX9155 MILTON STREET, Higher Brixham
1946-1/6/125 (North West side)
18/10/49 No.19
Friars Pardon, Black House, Black
Friars House incl. walls, gates &
piers
(Formerly Listed as:
MILTON STREET, Higher Brixham
(North West side)
Black Cottage, Friars Pardon, Black
House, Black Friars House and
Penrose)

GV II

Formerly known as: Black House, Penrose, Ingle Nook, Black
Cottage MILTON STREET Higher Brixham.
Large house. Probably C16/C17 or earlier, remodelled C17/C18
and again C18/C19. Minor additions to front in 1913. Solid
rendered walls. Slated roof, the left cross-wing hipped to
front and rear. 4 rendered chimneys with tapered caps; 1 on
right end wall (heightened in brick), 1 on right rear wall of
Black House, 1 on each of the rear wings.
Appears to be a 3-room-and-cross-passage plan with cross wing
projecting to left. Rear wing at each end of main range with a
third alongside the left wing, behind the cross passage. 2
storeys, with garret in parts. 4-window main range; 2 windows
in cross wing.
Black House, which occupies the 3 left-hand windows of main
range, has central doorway with large C18/C19 wooden porch
having slender fluted columns and flat hood, the latter
designed as an entablature with dentilled cornice. Rusticated
door surround of 1913; half-glazed door with 2 moulded panels
below and coloured leaded glass above. 3-light window above
and to left of upper storey; other 2 upper-storey windows
single-light; 6-paned sashes, those in side-lights 2-paned.
Friars Pardon, in right-hand end of main range has matching
3-light window in each storey; 4-panelled door to left.
Cross-wing (Black Friars House) has 2-light wood casements
with 8 panes per light. Half-glazed door to right; 2 moulded
panels below, coloured leaded glass above.
The whole front has been decorated with cement quoins and
window surrounds, apparently in 1913, since the dates
1457-1913 are moulded on a scroll above the middle
upper-storey window of the Black House. Coved eaves-cornice
over main range. C20 dormer with metal casements over Friars
Pardon. Another, with wood casements, over Black Friars House.
Left side wall has 3 windows with 6-paned sashes in upper
storey; C20 dormer with wood casments. Small-paned sashes in
rear wall; rainwater-head dated 1881.
INTERIOR inspected only at the Black House. Detail almost
entirely C18/C19 with some C17/C18, probably including the
roof structure. Wooden open-well stair, the first flight
balustraded on both sides, with the balustrades turning left
and right at the top. Thin, square moulded balusters, shaped
step-ends, both handrails voluted at the foot. In front of it
a segmental arch springing from moulded pilasters. 6-panelled
doors to rooms at either side on ground floor; these have
panelled shutters and moulded cornices with enriched ceiling
bands. First-floor half-landing and landing with moulded
cornices; segmental arch over stair-head. Five 6-panelled
doors.
All 3 first-floor front rooms have moulded cornices.
Right-hand room has C17/C18 wood chimneypiece with moulded
surround and cornice. Left-hand room has C19 moulded wood
chimneypiece with grey marble interior; iron basket-grate.
Left rear-wing room has grey marble chimneypiece with hob
grate; cupboards with plank and panelled doors, one with a
broken triangular pediment; moulded cornice. Short wing
adjoining it (now bathroom) has in rear wall a round-arched
recess with fluted pilasters and moulded archivolt; moulded
cornice. Roof-trusses of front range have arched collars
pegged to their faces; through-purlins. Old iron pump in back
yard.
Subsidiary features: To left of house is a rendered wall with
coping; at the left-hand end this curves inwards to a pair of
large round gate piers with ball finials; iron gates, marked
BLACK HOUSE TRADESMEN with arched braces and scrollwork. At
right-hand end is a smaller iron gate with ornamented finials
to the uprights; square piers with pyramidal caps and ball
finials.
The 1975 list description says this was 'originally the Town
Manor House'. Horsley says the 'buildings stand on a piece of
land that formerly belonged to the Duke of Suffolk, and was
sold off by the Crown between 1590 and 1610.'
(White W: Directory of Devonshire: 1850-: 427, 429; Horsley J
E: A Short History of Brixham: Exeter: 1988-: 12).

Listing NGR: SX9193555073

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26512602

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

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)