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Summary

L-shaped block consisting of workshop and house, late 16th or early 17th century.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II*) 1333011: DOCTON HOUSE

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS43SE/143
• Old Listed Building Ref (II): 90643

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• HOUSE (XVI to Post Medieval - 1501 AD to 1750 AD) + Sci.Date

Full description

DOCTON, Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV17504.

Docton house, myrtle street, appledore. Late c16 or early c17 altered and added to. L-shaped block consisting of workshop and house. The former which is at road level is a long 2 storey rubble range.1st floor has sash and other windows. Ground floor has 2 granite doorways with beaded chamfered mouldings. One has a cambered lintol, the other a head of 2 granite blocks forming a 4-centred arch. Over the latter is a relief carving of arms (docton).

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV17507.

Doe/hhr:northam/(19/2/1973)38.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV17508.

Cherry, b. + pevsner, n. /buildings of england:devon/(1989)128.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV17509.

Nmr=ss43se24.

Department of Environment, Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV328875.

Originally this range had 2 fine first floor rooms with coved enriched plaster ceilings. These were taken down about 75 years ago and only friezes remain in poor repair. The date appears late c16 or early c17. The present docton house is a wing at higher level behind the workshop. It contains various features probably late c16 but has been much altered. A walled-in space about 10ft deep would appear to contain a vast fireplace and chimney. Originally the front of the building extended across the road, with an arch over the footway. There are various legends about this house, one of which is that prince charles stayed here on his flight to cornwall (doe).

Dyer Feesey Wickham, 1984 - 2010, Docton House, Myrtle Street, Appledore, North Devon (Report - non-specific). SDV344422.

Docton House is now a divided property, the private residence no longer accessible directly from the 'hall'. There is no evidence to support the suggestion that the property was built by Cistercian monks in the 14th century and architectural features indicate an early 17th century date. The Docton family settled at Hartland in the early 16th century and there is a documentary reference to the storage of 1 ton of lead for Hartland Church in Mr. Docton's 'sellar' at Appledore in 1616. The Docton arms are displayed on the south wall. The hall with cellar below, which forms a two-storey linear adjunct to Docton House, is fronted by a cobblestone courtyard. It is constructed of local sandstone under a slate roof. The roof construction is a late example of threaded and spliced purlins which is often thought in North Devon to have ceased in the early 16th century. The south facing doorways are of granite moorstone characteristed roll moulds and stop chamfers. A more recent doorway has been formed to the lower south wall to the cellar. The lower ground floor is occupied by a continuous cellar and the upper floor consists of a large 'hall' originally ceiled and of which some remnants of early 17th century decorative plaster work survive. A timber screen, now vandalised, formerly divided the hall from an ante chamber at the west end. Both hall and ante chamber have fireplaces with granite surrounds. There is a small taller at the east end of the hall forming the stair housing. See report for further details together with a schedule of repairs.

Cherry, B. + Pevsner, N., 1989, The Buildings of England: Devon (Monograph). SDV325629.

Supposed to have originated as a monastic hostel converted into 17c mansion of the docton family (cherry + pevsner).

Unknown, 2003, Appledore 2003. A Conservation Area Appraisal (Draft) (Report - non-specific). SDV344651.

Carter, D. + Carter, J., 2012, Historical Statement of Significance. Docton House, Myrtle Street, Appledore (Un-published). SDV351121.

The proposed works appear to entail only minor alterations to the internal partition walls, and minial structural changes to the building. These are to change the layout of bathrooms and WCs, extend the present kitchen area and to create a new dining room from the present utility store. None of these should give significant concern about a change to this historic property.

Arnold, A. + Howard, R., 2012, Tree-Ring Analysis of Timbers: Docton Court, 2 Myrtle Street, Appledore, Bideford, Devon (Report - Scientific). SDV356143.

Analysis by dendrochronology of samples taken from 13 different oak timbers of both the ground-floor ceiling/floor frame of the hall above, and from the roof at Docton Court, has resulted in the production of two dated site chronologies. It would appear that the roof and ground-floor ceiling/first-floor frame are the same date as each other, all having been felled as part of a single overall programme of work, at some time in the late-sixteenth century, after 1590, or the very early-seventeenth century, before 1613. As part of this work at least two older timbers, originally felled in the later-fifteenth century, have been reused.

Ordnance Survey, 2014, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV355681.

Cramp, C., 2015, North Devon Relief-Decorated Ceramics in the Household, 192, 202, 214, 216; Fig 8.2 (Article in Monograph). SDV365391.

Only two firebacks have been found, one of which was at Docton. It consists of a broad flat slab of gravel-tempered earthenware, circa 0.72m by .066m and circa 50mm thick, stamped on one face; its size and weight would have presented problems in drying, firing and transport. It has upright sides and a semi-circular head – the typical form of English iron firebacks before they adopted a more upright shape towards the end of the 17th century. Found in a large closed-in fireplace in 2001. It can be reconstructed as having three rows of stamps each three stamps wide. Likely to date from the late 17th century.
A broken firedog with stamp K5 was found in 2001. A Bideford design. Now in a private collection.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4605 - Survey of Docton House, Myrtle Street, Appledore
• EDV6392 - Tree-Ring Analysis of Timbers at Docton Court

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