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Summary

An estate house with an unusual Z-shaped plan, of creamwashed rendered cob and rubble stone with a thatched roof. Of late medieval origin, remodelled in the early 17th century and later extended perhaps in the 18th or early 19th century during the period when it was divided into two cottages. It is marked as the Red Lion Public House on late 19th and early 20th century mapping.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II*) 1098073: CHURCH LANE THEYDON THEYDON OR CHURCH LANE

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: ST10SW/111
• Old Listed Building Ref (II*): 87057
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: ST10SW 25

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• HOUSE (Built, Late Medieval - 1401 AD to 1539 AD (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, ST10SW 25 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV340181.

Theydon or Church Lane a late medieval estate house remodelled in the early 17th century and later extended in the 18th or 19th century. Complex plan developed from a late medieval open hall (citing DoE).

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

Irregular shaped building shown on 19th century map as 'Red Lion (P.H.).

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

'Red Lion (P. H.) shown on early 20th century map.

Beacham, P., 1980s, Broadhembury and Gittisham Project, 9/6, Neg No. 564/16A, 17A (Un-published). SDV348235.

Thatching repairs undertaken in 1981 and 1982 as part of a scheme grant aided by Devon County Council.
Site visit 1983. Theydon. Old thatch in poor condition. Part of the Drewe estate.

Caroe & Partners, 1997, Broadhembury Village. Draft Survey of Condition (Report - Survey). SDV344616.

Creamwashed thatched cottage of unusual Z-shaped plan which has developed over late medieval and early modern periods. In a key location at the east end of the main street, south west side of the church.
The oldest part appears to be the northern section, which has jointed crucks, with an exaial stack at the gable and a framed arced doorframe unusually placed adjacent to the stack. The first floors are supported on deep chamfered main beams and a good timber framed screen devides the two rooms of this range. The southern end has an A-frame roof with a hip, which may be a re-roofing. A second stack backs on to this laterally, with a smoke chamber to its north, and heats a projecting wing to the west, of probably 17th century date, again with an a-framed roof. Beyond this again to the south is a further small room perhaps of 19th century date, which may have been added when the house was divided into two cottages. Lean-to extensions on the east side contains the kitchen, bathroom and, on the south, now forms a corridor joining the two cottages as one house again.
There is a leak in the thatched roof to the east dormer of the northern bedroom The thatched roofs have zinc valleys which are ugly and incongruous. The lean-to roof is of double Roman tiles which are delaminating, and a few are broken.
The northern gable wall is very thin. This and the plan form suggest that the house may have continued with a cross-passage to the north, with the framed door being relocated to its present position, perhaps when the house was divided into two cottages. The walls seem generally sound, though damp at low level. This is particularly so in the southern and western ranges, wich are built into the slope of the hill. Dampness in the solid floors at the south end is also a persistent problem. The chimney flue in the south range is leaking, and the wall and first floor adjacent are damp. The lean-to containing the bathroom is timber framed with asbestos cement panels and a corrugated iron room. The lean-to is damp.
Ceilings are cracked and irregular and part in the northern wing has collapsed, revealing smoke blackening beneath. The ceiling in the 19th century wing is also poor.
The first floors were generally sound, though there are several layers of boards in the eatern wing, where the floors tend to creak. The northern stair structure is rickety, and further support is required. The Crittal window of the second bedroom is rusty. The timber casement window to the southern bedroom is rotten, the frame seems fair but casements require repair or renewal. The ground floor window of the western room requires releading.

Fisher, J., 1999, East Devon Conservation Area Appraisals: Broadhembury, 5-6 (Report - non-specific). SDV346379.

Broadhembury is possibly one of the most perfectly complete villages in Devon in terms of the use of traditional materials which here consist of creamwashed rendered cob on stone footings with characteristic tar band. Roofs are thatched with a plain ridge and many are either hipped or half-hipped. These delightfully organic profiles are further emphasised by the many swept dormers. Most chimneys are exposed brickwork with oversailing upper courses; some have been rendered. Almost all the cottages in the village are listed and many date from the late 16th or 17th century. Other details: Maps.

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

English Heritage, 2014, National Heritage List for England (National Heritage List for England). SDV355683.

Theydon or Church Lane. Estate house. Late medieval origins, remodelled in the circa early C17 and extended later, possibly in the C18 or early C19, perhaps during the period when the house was divided into 2 cottages. Creamwashed rendered cob and stone rubble; thatched roof with a plain ridge, hipped at left end of the main block, gabled at the right end; right end stack with a stone rubble shaft, stack at junction of the main block and the south-west wing, stack to C18 or C19 addition. Plan: Complex and extremely interesting historic plan form, approximately Z plan overall: the main block facing north-east, a south-west wing at right angles and a probably C18 or C19 addition adjoining the wing on the same axis as the main block. The main block, 2 rooms wide, is the higher end of a late medieval open hall house with unusually primitive carpentry to the roof construction. The lower end and passage (formerly adjoining at the north-west) are missing but the medieval doorframe from the passage into the higher end survives in situ as an external doorframe. The hall was probably floored in the C17 with a stack added backing on to the passage (now the end stack) and a winder stair added in the inner room. The south-west wing may also be medieval in origin, it may have been unheated originally but some odd features associated with the present stack, but apparently pre-dating it, suggest that it may have had a smoke hood or a timber frame stack before the insertion of the existing stack which has an C18 chimney-piece. A small 1-room plan extension leads off the wing at right angles to it. The main block has a tiled outshut along the front (north-east) wall and there is a thatched outshut along the south east side of the wing, providing access between the wing and the main block. The principal entrance is into the south-west end of the wing from the lane to the church. The house was divided into 2 cottages at one time. Exterior: Irregular and extremely picturesque, sited adjacent to the churchyard. 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 2 window entrance front, fronting the lane to the church and made up of the end of the south-west wing and the side of the C18 or C19 addition. C19 or C20 plank front door to the left with a thatched porch with timber lattice sides. First floor window left is a probably C18 3-light casement retaining some square leaded panes and old glass. Eaves thatch eyebrowed over first floor window right which is a C20 casements with glazing bars. The left return has one 1-light window and a 3-light C18 ground floor casement with some square leaded panes, old glass and stanchions. To the left and set back, the rear elevation of the main block has an early C19 gabled dormer with pierced curly bargeboards and a timber casement with glazing bars, one similar ground floor casement. The left return of the main block has a thatched porch to the former higher end entrance from the missing passage: this retains its original medieval chamfered oak doorframe with a cranked lintel pegged into the jambs. Deep eaves to the gable end with early C19 pierced curly bargeboards. A single-storey outshut with a red pantile roof extends along the north-east elevation (the front of the main block). The thatch on the south-east side of the wing is swept down, almost to ground level, as a catslide over the outshut. Interior: Very unspoiled and rich in carpentry and other features of interest. The main block has chamfered step-stopped crossbeams and exposed joists, the heated room with an open fireplace with a chamfered lintel and a bread oven. There may originally have been a stair in the north-west corner of the room where there is a large cupboard with an early C18 door with one large welded panel. The unheated room has a timber winder stair: the division between the 2 rooms rises as a closed partition on the first floor, made up of slender poles with plaster between. In the wing various timbers adjacent to the stack appear to be truncated by the chimney- breast and, on the first floor, a sooted void next to the stack may be the remains of a framed smoke hood. The ground floor room has a chamfered stopped crossbeam, a substantial axial beam across half the room and some exposed joists. A C20 oak stair rises in the corner, replacing a C19 stair. The C18 chimney-piece is unexpectedly high quality Adam style. Roof:. The main north-east facing block has a late medieval jointed cruck roof construction, the right hand (north) cruck embedded in the end wall. The trusses are of a very rustic character, the principal rafters slender and wainey with most of the curve in the principals rather than the cruck feet, which appear to be halved on to the rafters. The collars, also slender, appear to have halved rather that mortised joints. The hip at the left end is partly renewed but the rafters are simply fixed on to timber pads in the end wall. The roof has been altered to the rear of the ridge and some of the purlins (formerly trenched) have been removed. No access to the apex of the roof but fragments of sooted thatch are visible behind the lath and plaster. The roof over the wing has been raised slightly, the timbers are probably C18 or early C19, the ridge resting on a massive sooted timber block on the gable. Substantial sooted timbers are visible in a void adjacent to the stack of the wing. An exceptionally interesting evolved house on a small scale, in a crucial position in the centre of an outstanding estate village and one of 8 closely-spaced medieval houses in the village.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4709 - Condition Survey, Broadhembury Village
• EDV5626 - Broadhembury and Gittisham Thatch Survey

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