Old Barnstaple House Blog – No.2

This week’s blog looks at the house we’ve taken on – the starting point for our renovation project.

Old Barnstaple House is on the main street of a village in North Devon. In general terms it is built of stone and cob with a thatched roof, which is quite typical of old houses in the area.

OLD BARNSTAPLE HOUSE: INTRODUCTION 

It looks as if the walls are mostly stone for the ground floor and cob for the first floor but it’s already clear that the detail is more complicated than that. The walls, including several internal walls are around 2½ feet thick.

It is Grade II* listed as a significant historic building. This means there will be considerable restrictions on what we can do and we will require Listed Building Consent for any alterations.

The important first step to navigating that process is to understand the history of the building. There is only limited information on this available before we start – we will learn much more as we begin to open the building up and our findings will inform what we plan to do.

Here is what we know so far: The house was built in a number of different phases over a long period of time.

The oldest part probably dates from the 16^th century and is simply 2 large rooms (one on each floor) built on to the neighbouring cottages. In the 18^th century it was enlarged, along the main street, making it about 3 times larger.

Then a 2 storey rear extension was added in the 19^th century. This had some attached outbuildings for animals that were converted in the 20^th century to create a single story annexe.

There is a single storey lean-to extension behind the older part of the main range that was also added in the 20^th century. In between all these major building phases there are lots of signs of frequent alterations to the internal arrangement and the location of doors and windows.

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