Historical Overview |
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Please note: This original page has now been superceded by evidence uncovered in the 2005 restoration. It is intended to replace this page with the latest information during December 2005. |
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| Architectural features |
Documentary evidence |
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| C15th |
Church house was built about 1490, a five bay two storied building ( based on evidence uncovered, in the 2005 restoration, of the construction method and timber dating) . The surviving, smoke blackened thatch is rare and precious. The medieval ground floor door is probably of this date. |
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| C16th |
The floor was supported on six sturdy cross beams and a massive fireplace and chimney stack was built at the west end. The first floor was open from end to end and lit from the east by a large window, providing space for church ales and other social functions. It is impossible to date the external staircase but the first floor doorway is of this date. Downstairs was partitioned to provide a large, five bay, kitchen/brewing space to the west and a smaller buttery (?) to the east. The massive external ashlar [1] facing is from this early C16th phase. |
The first certain documentary evidence is in an inventory of 1558-59 whose contents - boards, tressels, "crockes & and olde pan.... a lytell [2] cawdron" - suggest cooking and eating. Between 1568 and 1578 there is a whole series of entries in the Church Wardens' accounts which it is tempting to believe relate to the C16th century modification of the building. However the architectural evidence does not bear this out - notably the earlier style of the granite windows and the first floor doorway. |
In 1599 CHURCH ALES were declared unlawful at all times in |
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| C17th |
From this time it is not easy to date the changes that over the next centuries converted the C16th building to what it is now. Sometime in the C17th the axial chimney stack, east of centre was inserted with new, "domestic" fireplaces, three on each floor. Secondary ground and first floor doors were also added. |
Over this century there are various items in the Church Wardens' Accounts for repairs to Church House - thatching, mending windows and doors, etc. - but, except for a reference in 1664 to benches for the "schoolhouse", there is no indication as to what the building was used for. |
| C18th |
Ultimately Church House became a six-room unit, with fireplaces to three rooms of about the same size on each floor. |
Again there is evidence for the regular maintenance of Church House, but nothing to indicate its use. In 1740 John Nethercott was paid for "Righting the oven in the Church House". Sweeping the chimneys became a regular expenditure - for instance 15 times between 1744 and 1769. |
| C19th |
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The first mention of a poor house is in 1804 and, although there is nothing specific to say that Church House was the poor house, all the evidence points to it being used as one. Thatching, chimney sweeping and general repairs continue - sometimes Church House is specified, sometimes the poor house. South Tawton Poor house appears in the 1841 census with apparently six families or households. It also appears in the 1851,1861, and 1881 censuses. |
| C20th |
1962-66 a major renovation took place with toilets and a kitchen installed downstairs and the big room upstairs re-floored. |
Early in the After the mid-and late- century renovations its use expanded somewhat -youth club, Quaker meeting place - but inconsistently. |
| C21st |
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It also aims to promote the use of Church House both as a community asset and as a building in its own right. |
[1] Stone, accurately hewn to given dimensions [2] Old English for 'little' [3] Law or rule especially in ecclesiastical matters |
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