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Summary

Pumpy Cottage in Lower East Week was built as part of a farmhouse in the late 15th or early 16th century with later alterations and the demolition of the south-western part

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1305886: PUMPY COTTAGE

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX69SE/183
• Old Listed Building Ref (II): 94991

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• COTTAGE NON SPECIFIC (XIV to XIX - 1400 AD to 1900 AD (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

Row of adjoining buildings shown on 19th century map.

Alcock, N. W. + Laithwaite, M., 1973, Medieval houses in Devon and Their Modernisation, 109-11 (Article in Serial). SDV25027.

Pumpy Cottage in East Week. Only the hall and inner room remain of the original house. The cross passage is now a lean-to, and the third room has been replaced by sheds. The roof over the hall and inner room is of two bays divided by two open jointed cruck trusses. The wattle and daub partition between the upper parts of hall and inner room is probably a later insertion. At ground level there is now a stone wall. Building probably late 16th or 17th century although originally it was a a long hall house. Other details: Photograph and Plan.

Alcock, N. W., 1981, Cruck Construction: An Introduction and Catalogue, 111 (Report - non-specific). SDV342504.

Jointed cruck recorded (citing M Laithwaite).

Department of Environment, 1988, South Tawton, 144 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV336452.

Pumpy cottage is part of a former farmhouse. Late 15th century/early 16th century with major later 16th century and 17th century improvements, reduced in size to present cottage probably in 19th century. Granite stone rubble. Stone stacks. Slate roof, formerly thatch. Two room plan cottage. Faces se built down the hillslope. Late medieval 3 room and through passage plan house. Probably a dartmoor longhouse. Two storeys. Good interior at the upper end of the hall the stone rubble crosswall may be an original low partition, the oak round-headed doorframe it contains could well be late 15th century/early 16th century. The late 16th century/early 17th century fireplace is granite ashlar with hollow-chamfered surround and now contains a 19th century oven. The wattle and daub crosswall is smoke-blackened on the hall side only. A 20th century kitchen outshot to rear. The garage and store rooms on the left end occupy the site of the original shippon.

Foulkes, C., 1998, Pumpy Cottage, East Week (Correspondence). SDV348354.

Application to convert the garage to the south-west of Pumpy Cottage to domestic accommodation. It would appear that the garage of Pumpy Cottage could have been the short domestic service end of the Late Medieval cottage and the store to the south-west was built up against it before the construction of Spring Cottage in the 19th century. Other details: Letter in Keystone Report K544.

Thorp, J. R. L., 1998, The Demolished Lower End at Pumpy Cottage, East Week (Report - Survey). SDV348352.

Pumpy Cottage comprises the hall and inner room of a Late Medieval hall house. It is on a northeast to southwest axis facing onto the lane to the southeast. The passage and service end of the original house have been demolished although parts of the outside walls were suspected in various outbuildings. The Tithe Map and early Ordnanace Survey maps show that the buildings between Pumpy Cottage and Spring Cottage to the west were already divided with the buildings the same width as Pumpy Cottage whereas later maps show them as being narrower and the same width as Spring Cottage. The cross passage survives as a lean-to beyond which two theories are possible. A short lower end may signify a domestic service room and a long lower end may indicate a shippon extending down the hill as far as Spring Cottage which was built up against an earlier building.

Ordnance Survey, 2011, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV346129.

English Heritage, 2011, National Heritage List for England (National Heritage List for England). SDV347072.

Pumpy Cottage in East Week was Listed on 4th March 1988. The cottage is part of a former farmhouse built in the late 15th or early 16th century with major 16th and 17th century improvements and reduced in size to the present cottage probably in the 19th century. Built of granite stone rubble with stone stacks, the hall stack still with its original granite ashlar chimney shaft and a slate roof which was formerly thatch.
Plan and development: two-room plan cottage facing south-east built down the hillslope. In fact these two rooms are the hall and inner room of a late medieval three- room-and-through-passage plan house, probably a Dartmoor longhouse. The inner room, at the uphill right end, has a gable-end stack; so too does the hall although this was formerly an axial stack backing onto the passage (part of which remains in a leanto there). The garage and store rooms on the left end occupy the site of the original shippon. The late 15th or early 16th century farmhouse was open to the roof, divided by low partitions and heated by an open hearth fire. Probably in the mid 16th century the inner room end was floored and this new chamber jettied into the upper end of the hall. The hall stack was inserted in the late 16th or early 17th century and the hall floored in the 17th century. Now two storeys with a 20th century kitchen outshot to rear.
Exterior: regular two-window front of 20th century casements with glazing bars and the roof is gable-ended. The front end of the leanto contains the passage front doorway, now with a 20th century plank door. Good interior: at the upper end of the hall the stone rubble crosswall may be an original low partition, the oak round-headed door frame it contains could well be late 15th or early 16th century. The fireplace of this date is granite ashlar with hollow-chamfered surround and now contains a 19th century oven. The 17th century axial beam has plain soffit chamfers and the contemporary joists (in the rear bay) are also soffit- chamfered. Inner room has plain joists and the stack here appears to be a 19th century insertion. The roof structure is original and contains two face-pegged jointed cruck trusses with cambered collars and small triangular yokes (Alock's Apex Type L1). Both trusses are smoke-blackened from the open hearth fire. The wattle-and-daub crosswall between the hall and inner room chambers is smoke-blackened on the hall side only. The roof truss close to the hall chimney breast includes a series of holes drilled into the undersides of the collar and principals which may ndicate there was a smoke bay here before the hall stack was built. East Week is a straggling hamlet which contains several other attractive listed buildings. Other details: LBS Number 94991.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV5676 - Building Survey of the Demolished Lower End at Pumpy Cottage

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