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Summary

121 Boutport Street, early 19th century house with a later shop.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1385063: 121, BOUTPORT STREET

Other References/Statuses

• North Devon District Council Rescue Archaeology Unit Site Code: ND34
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS53SE/390
• Old Listed Building Ref (II): 485524

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• HOUSE (XIX - 1801 AD to 1900 AD (Between))

Full description

Department of Environment, 1973, Barnstaple (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV89941.

121 Boutport Street in Barnstaple an early 19th century house with a later shop. Rendered front. Slated roof. Large, old red brick chimney on ridge, off-centre to left. 2 storeys. 2-window range. 20th century shop front. Upper storey windows have segmental heads; box-framed sashes with margin-panes. Moulded board below the eaves. Interior not inspected. Other details: LBS No 485524.

North Devon District Council Rescue Archaeology Unit, 1986, Interim Report on Small Sites Work, Barnstaple (Report - Interim). SDV90724.

Trench excavated within the high stone garden walls of 121 Boutport Street in 1986.

North Devon District Council Rescue Archaeology Unit, 1991, North Devon Archaeological Site Code Index, Site Code ND34 (Report - non-specific). SDV63429.

Malthouse, garden shed and flag stones recorded at 121 Boutport Street in 1986.

Southwest Archaeology, 2013, Greater Barnstaple Area Project Database, Mapping Area 25 (Un-published). SDV351581.

Ordnance Survey, 2013, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV350786.

English Heritage, 2013, National Heritage List for England (National Heritage List for England). SDV350785.

Humphreys, C. + Whitlock, B., 2016, 121 Boutport Street, Barnstaple, North Devon, Devon: Historic Building Assessment (Report - Survey). SDV360169.

South West Archaeology Ltd. was commissioned to undertake historic building assessment at 121 Boutport Street, Barnstaple, ahead of the proposed conversion of the shop to form one dwelling and the conversion of the rear stores to form two dwellings.

The building is located in Barnstaple, to the east of the High Street within the historic town.

Very few historic features remain inside the building and those that remain are of mid-late 19th century in date. However, embedded in the wall between this building and 122 to the west is a 16th century roof truss situated on the second floor approximately 1.5 meters below the current roof pitch.

Parts of 16th century truss blades have been reused as opening lintels in the rebuilt rear wall of the building suggesting that the extension to the rear, the raising of the roof pitch and the insertion of a chimney stack in the centre of the building were part of a rebuild of the whole structure, probably of mid-late 19th century date.

121, Boutport Street is a Grade II Listed building (Appendix 2) and the listing dates the building to the early 19th or possibly late 18th century. The shop front and the workshops to the rear of the building are of 20th century date.

121 Boutport Street is a two storey terraced building with a large shop window on the ground floor facing Boutport Street and a pair of sash windows to the first floor. Entrance to the shop is offset to the right and set with a modern part-glazed door. The walls are finished with painted pebble dash. The roof is pitched facing the road and is covered with natural slate and capped with terracotta ridge tiles. The facia board is modern and the guttering missing.

The most interesting feature of the building is the 16th century roof truss embedded in the wall between this building and 122 Boutport Street, the apex of which is approximately 1.5m below the current ridge. The feet of this truss can be seen meeting the front wall in Room 9 and approximately a metre from the rear wall of Room 10, where it meets a straight join. This clearly demonstrates the rebuild of the rear wall.

A one and a half storey building that probably extended into 122 Boutport Street to the west. The remaining building probably represents the service end of a previously longer building; probably of a three cell cross-passage layout. The only evidence for this dating is a roof truss embedded in the wall between 121 and 122 Boutport Street. Parts of another truss of similar date, probably formerly in the position of the 19th century fireplace, has been re-used as doorway lintels on the ground floor of the rebuilt rear wall.

The building underwent a thorough makeover in the mid 19th century. The front wall is rebuilt with a shop front and the rear wall is rebuilt outside the earlier line. A brick chimney stack is inserted towards the centre of the new building and the roof height is raised using a new pine structure. This allowed the attic to be used for further accommodation that is accessed from the first floor by a narrow stair. Only the rooms on the ground and first floor were heated.

An extension is added to the rear of the building replacing the structure shown on the early maps of which no details are apparent in the extant structure. The rear yards are covered and during the construction of the Green Lanes Shopping Centre in the 1980s the rear wall of the yard is removed and replaced with modern brick.

All partitions are removed on the ground floor and the stair is replaced. The base of the chimney stack is almost completely removed and the first floor fireplace openings are blocked.

The modern use of the building has removed almost all items that could be considered of historic merit including the earlier ground floor stairs, all the 19th century fireplaces and all the ground floor partition walls and any early doors.

The removal of the fireplaces and the lower part of the chimney stack; the cutting through and removal of the segmental arches and lintels, has allowed this structure to become unstable. The remaining structure has very little architectural merit and with the removal of the ground floor partitions has lost most of its original context.

Map object is based on this source.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7257 - Historic Building Assessment: 121 Boutport Street, Barnstaple, North Devon, Devon (Ref: 160204)

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