Description

OTTERTON FORE STREET (north side) SY 0885 Otterton 7/161 No.56 Basclose 30.6.61 GV II* House. Probably C16 with major late C16 and C17 improvements, one dated 1627 according to date plaque. Plastered cob on stone rubble footings; stone rubble stacks with some Beerstone ashlar detail, one with its original stone chimney shaft and all topped with C19 brick, one Rolle Estate chimney pot; thatch roof. 3-room-and-through-passage plan house facing south onto Fore Street with the service end room at the left (western) end. Both inner and and service end rooms have gable end stacks, the former projecting. The hall has a projecting front lateral stack. 1-room plan rear block projecting at right angles behind inner room. Since interior inspection was not possible its probable development from an open hall-house has to be left for future determination. 2 storeys. Regular but not symmetrical 4-window front. First floor windows are probably C17 oak frames with chamfered mullions; ground floor has C20 replacement casements, all with rectangular panes of leaded glass. Those on the first floor rise a short distance into the thatch. The front passage doorway is left of centre and contains a C19 plank door and has a C20 rubble-walled porch with thatch monopitch roof. Immediately to right is the hall stack. The stone is exposed and very attractive. It is built of coursed brown-coloured local conglomerate stone blocks with cream- coloured Beerstone quoins. It has weathered offsets and a tall original double chimney shaft only the very top of which is built of late C19 brick. At the base of the shaft there is a Beerstone date plaque inscribed IC 1627. Small fire window on right side. The roof is gable-ended, so too is the rear block which also includes casement windows similar to those on the front. Interior was not available for inspection at the time of the survey, but the occupants claim it has been carefully modernised and the carpentry detail is mostly C16 and C17. However, the development of the house remains to be sorted out. The date of 1627 presumably dates the flooring of the hall since the double shaft indicates a first floor fireplace. Basclose is the most attractive house on Fore Street which contains a fine group of varied buildings, many of them listed.

Listing NGR: SY0815885282

External Links

• Wikidata Q17546601

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Recommended Books

• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)