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Summary

Marker's cottage.15c 3-room-and-through-passage house with all rooms open to the roof. Gradually ceiled until the mid-19c when it was divided into 2 cottages. Grade ii* (nmr citing doe).

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II*) 1170878: MARKER'S COTTAGE

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX99NE/96
• Old Listed Building Ref (II*): 88443

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• HOUSE (Early Medieval to Late 20th Century - 1066 AD to 2000 AD)

Full description

NMR CITING DOE, Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV127194.

Marker's cottage.15c 3-room-and-through-passage house with all rooms open to the roof. Gradually ceiled until the mid-19c when it was divided into 2 cottages. Grade ii* (nmr citing doe).

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV127196.

Nmr=sx99ne36.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV127197.

Doe/hhr:broadclyst/().

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV127198.

Cherry, b. + pevsner, n. /the buildings of england: devon/(1989)216.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV127199.

Des=the national trust/killerton estate archaeological survey: part 3: the cottages & broadclyst/(2000)264/copy in smr.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV127200.

Des=national trust/killerton estate building survey/(jan 1985)/in smr.

National Trust, Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV52.

Features include a painted plank and muntin screen of 1530-50 depicting st andrew with cross and ship + a cherub painted in earth colours. Late medieval house added to in c16 and c17 + altered in c18, c19 and c20. It was renovated and converted back to a single dwelling in 1980s and is now open to the public. The walls are rendered cob on a stone plinth under a smoke-blackened thatched roof (nt).

National Trust, 1983 - 1990, Killerton Estate Building Survey (Report - Survey). SDV344584.

Other details: Survey date January 1985.

Molland, S., 1996, Markers Cottage, Broadclyst (Un-published). SDV351865.

The earliest references to the property are in the late 18th century.

Fisher, J., 1999, East Devon Conservation Area Appraisals: Broadclyst, 6, 8 (Report - non-specific). SDV346253.

Marker's Cottage is a late medieval house, with polychromatic painted decoration on a screen. It has undergone sympathetic restoration by the National Trust and is occasionally open to the public. Other details: Photograph.

English Heritage, 2011, Historic Houses Register (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV346128.

Previously listed as Nos 3-4 Markers Cottage, description amended. Cottage, 15th, 16th, 17th centuries, altered 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Renovated and converted back to a single dwelling in 1980s. Cob, stone plinth,rendered, main house with sandstone and brick end stacks, wheat reed thatched roof, gabled end to left-hand side; sloping thatched roof over later single-storey right-hand extension; slate roof over small back wing at left with end stack. Plan and development: Originates in the 15th century as a 3-cell through passage house with all rooms open to roof and divided by plank and muntin screens. Late in the 15th century the parlour was celled and the upper room separated off by a heightened screen. circa1530 rear lateral hall stack added. circa1600 the hall was ceiled and the rear stair turret built and the house generally improved. Late 17th century, kitchen wing built. Mid 19th century divided into two cottages with additional staircase and other alterations. 1980s, repaired, old features discovered and restored to single dwelling.
Exterior: 2 storeys. 3-window range under a curved roof ridge line. Ground floor with 2 doors and 19th century 2 and 3-light timber casement windows; upper windows, 2 and 3-light under eyebrow eaves, the right hand 3-light casement, 18th century with leaded panes, 4 to the fixed side-lights, 8 to the centre. Right-hand extension with a single 20th century window. Left-hand end of house with two 2-light casements, each light with 9 re-leaded panes.
Interior: Principal known surviving features. Hall/parlour plank and muntin screen painted on both sides; painting dated stylistically 1470-1510. Original (15th century) 4-light window with surviving central mullion. circa1600 3-light window rebated for glazing. Large areas of 17th century plaster daub. Joinery, beams, door frames etc from the several periods. Several good fireplaces. Roof: Three pairs of jointed cruck trusses, the south pair extending down to ground level, as does the north one at end of the painted screen. The others rest on wooden plates in the cob walls just above the stone plinth. Trusses morticed and side pegged at apex, diagonally set ridge piece, collars and purlins. Smoke blackened rye thatch throughout entire length.
(Detailed information from National Trust, report by Isobel Richardson).

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

Alcock, N., 2015, The Development of the Vernacular House in South-West England, 1500-1700, 13 (Article in Monograph). SDV365373.

Contains a stud-and-panel partition with painted decoration.

Sinclair, E. + Richardson, I., 2015, The Polychrome-Decorated Plank-and-Muntin Screen at Marker's Cottage, Broadclyst, Devon, and its Context, 117-139; Figs 5.1-5.11; Plates IX, X (Article in Monograph). SDV365381.

Marker’s Cottage was built as a late medieval three-room and cross-passage house, initially open to the roof. The internal space was divided into three by head-height plank-and-muntin screens. Two similar screens survive: those marking the divisions between hall and parlour, and between the cross-passage and lower room; both have shoulder-headed doorways, mitred top rails and diagonal stops low on the muntins. It is likely that there was also a primary screen on the north side of the cross-passage. The lower room was exceptionally large compared with the other rooms, and its surviving window was strongly constructed. It is possible that goods were stored there, suggesting that the occupant may have been involved in trade as well as farming.
A parlour chamber was formed above the hall in the late 15th century. This room may have been heated, but the subsequent collapse of the north wall has destroyed any evidence for this.
The hall fireplace was then built onto the rear wall in the early 16th century. This channelled the smoke, allowing the screen to be painted.
In the early 17th century the hall was ceiled. The ceiling of the cross-passage and lower room appears to be contemporary, as does the stair turret built against the north side of the stack; its paired doorways gave access to the chambers over the parlour and hall. It may have been at this time that the cob of the front wall was rebuilt, explaining the absence of early windows there.
The rear wing was added in the late 17th century and the north wall rebuilt in the 18th century. In the early to mid 19th century the building was converted into two cottages.
During a building survey in 1986 Isabel Richardson salvaged two pieces of a decayed oak board from a bonfire. These proved to be parts of the plank-and-muntin screen dividing the hall from the parlour. A painted depiction of St. Andrew was discerned below layers of dirt and distemper. Investigation showed that the panel formed part of a more extensive scheme on both sides of the screen, concealed below later surfaces. In view of the exceptional interest of the early painting, the decision was made by the National Trust to remove later accretions and undertake a programme of conservation of the early polychrome scheme.
In its primary form the screen consisted of a doorway and six planks separated by muntins. Three panels remained in situ; the original position of the fourth – the one painted with St. Andrew – could be established because it could be fitted into only one of the remaining spaces. The two others had been destroyed, probably in the recent past. The hall side presents the more finished woodwork, with chamfered edges to the muntins, and mouldings along the top rail. Each plank contains a different design, framed by a repeated candelabra motif on the muntins. Thus, unlike some other examples such as Osmonds at Clyst Hydon, the design respects the structure of the screen. The different components undoubtedly form part of the scheme to which St. Andrew belongs: with one exception (the faint outline of a second figure) they show flamboyant Renaissance motifs of the same general type as those on the lower half of the Andrew panel.
Although the hall side presents the more finished woodwork, the better painting and finer techniques are on the parlour side. This may reflect the changing status of the rooms over time. Along the top rail, traces of an Aaron’s rod pattern were revealed. Below, most painting stops around dado level, but it continues further down on the St. Andrew panel, and odd fragments of paint occur lower down on other boards. Panel 1 retains interlaced scrolls of stylised foliage. Panel 2 contains a large “trellis” pattern with an exuberant stylised pomegranate within each compartment. Panel 3 is filled with candelabra grotesques with interlaced acanthus leaves and a cherub at the top. The wings of a similar cherub survive on the edges of the boards below St. Andrew; beneath him is an ornate urn.
The St. Andrew panel revealed the fragment of a building – possibly a church – over his left shoulder. Over his right shoulder is a ship (of a type which traded to Bordeaux, Spain and Portugal). Lower down is a hunting scene, where a man can be seen walking a dog, watched by a rabbit.
On the hall side is a band of unpainted wood at dado height, probably indicating that a fixed bench stood against the screen. Each panel above reflects the design of the rear side. Preliminary cleaning of the reverse of the St. Andrew panel indicated that a figure painted once existed here too, although now much abraded. It stands in a mandorla with a sprig of stylised foliage at each corner. This framing device strongly suggests that it is the Virgin Mary. The panel may represent her Assumption, or may depict her with the Christ child.
Analysis of the pigments has revealed the use of costly Red lake and Orpiment, which was fashionable in the 15th- and 16th centuries, and which has a corrosive effect on some other pigments and its binding material. This probably explains the dull brown appearance of most of the panels.
The discovery of these more costly pigments demonstrates how altered these paintings now are from their original state. Other more exotic material may also have been used, but have either not survived or have been altered beyond recognition. In its original state this was, therefore, a striking composition, a bold linear design picked out with costly colours.
The prominence of the Virgin Mary and St. Andrew makes it probable that the scheme dates to the pre-Reformation period. On the other hand, the use of antiquework places it in the period after the introduction of Renaissance ornament into South-West England – after circa 1520. A general date range of circa 1520-50 can therefore be suggested.
The early date of the paintings and their combination of religious and secular subjects make them unique in South-West England. It is, however, probable that they represent a form of decoration which was widespread.

Unknown, Unknown, Floor Plans of Cottages in Broad Clyst (Plan - measured). SDV360498.

Ground floor plan of cottage.

National Trust, Unknown, Marker's Cottage (Leaflet). SDV351866.

This small cob and thatch house dates back to the 15th century. It gained its present name from Sarah Marker, who is recorded as owning it between the 1790 and 1814 Land Tax Assessments. Sir Thomas Dyke Acland held the property in 1824, and it has been part of the Killerton Estate ever since.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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