Allerford Post Office, Allerford, Holnicote Estate

Summary

An unusual combination of a rebuilt early 19c house with rear wing of the earlier house surviving to the west. Two storey, roof of double roman tiles over rubble stone walls. The forge, now demolished, is recorded as MNA141358.

Identification Images (0)

Monument Types

Description

Two storey, two-cell ( was three-cell) building with rear one and a half storey wing. Roof gabled at north end and half-hipped at south, ridge T-shaped with west gable on wing and axial internal stack. Front and two rear lateral stacks ( south one first floor only) on main range.

Two raked dormers in front elevation and front porch with single pitch roof. South ground floor window is a bay with single pitch roof. Stair projection on rear with catslide roof, below it's eaves is a flatter-pitch porch roof sheltering the access door to the rear wing. The wing has a small lean-to on the south side, forming part of the boundary to the yard, and a lean-to garage on the north wall which is converted to a kitchen. This has a ridged building butting onto it.

Irregular fenestration.Roof of double roman tiles with matching ridge. North half-hip weather-boarded.
Walls of rubble stone with segmental arch openings on ground floor. Wing opening timber lintels, wing stonework very random, brick patching and jambs in west wall. Gables built up for lesser pitch of tiled roof. Kitchen lean-to vertical boards ( east end), double doors of garage at west end.

17th century cross-passage house, the present 17c wing may have been a wing with the house aligned along the road through Allerford, or it may have been the inner room of a cross-passage house. The surviving plank and muntin screen divided it into two parts, one was possibly heated living room and the northern part dining room and storeroom used for storage. The map evidence is not very helpful in indicating the shape of the original house. Front ( east) part rebuilt first half 19c with three rooms, aligned along the present road. The roof was thatched and half- hipped. The ogee-headed lights in the windows of shop and living room are very similar to those of Selworthy ( c. 1828). Recorded as ''A48 cottage and garden' in the 1809-1812 Holnicote Estate survey.

Building set against Fern Cottage on Selworthy Tithe map (1841) but not listed as a forge in the 1841 Apportionment. Listed on the 1876 Holnicote Estate map as 'blacksmith's shop and cottage', let to Richard Chapple and John Cleaver. Marked as 'P.O.' on 1889 O.S. Somerset Sheet XXXIV.2, Scale 1:2,500. Thatch replaced with tiles late 19c/ early 20c, eaves raised and north gable weatherboarded when the half-hipped thatch was removed. Circa 1910 blacksmith's shop removed when present forge built in the orchard immediately southeast of the cobbler's shop.

Garage ( present kitchen) added between 1903 and 1929. Converted to a kitchen by the present tenants late 20c.
Important Features:
External appearance with ogee-headed windows, shutters and listed Grade II letter box.
Transverse beams in living room ( late 16c/ early 17c).
Fireplaces in shop, living room, bedrooms G and I.
Post Office counter in shop.
Plank and muntin screen between living room and storeroom in wing.
Ogee-headed windows, shop and sitting room.
In a fair state of repair - the wing stack pointing is decayed and the snow blows into the roof so that it has to be shovelled out. Rain comes down the wing chimney.
Outbuildings:
Lavatory: Small, single-cell, single pitch roof, built against south wall of wing, late 19c ( on 1889 O.S. Somerset Sheet XXXIV.2, Scale 1:2,500). Roof of corrugated iron over walls of brick with weatherboarding above, painted inside. In a fair state of repair.
Wash-House, now garden store: Small single cell, single pitch roof outhouse built on the garden wall, south of the wing and at the rear of the house, as a wash-house. Chimney removed from south-west corner. Roof of corrugated iron over walls of brick, on rubble stone yard wall to south. Not on 1903 O.S. Somerset Sheet XXXIV.2 but on 1929 revised 2nd edition. In a fair state of repair.
Pigsty, now log store and hen house: Single-storey gable-ended building running eastwards from the back lane behind the Post Office. It is a combination of the remnants of a pigsty and more modern wooden construction, and the party wall with Fern Cottage outbuildings. Roof of double roman tiles with matching ridge, with rafters set on wall-plates. Walls of rubble stone, mainly red sandstone with part-weatherboarded south gable and hit-and- miss boarding at east end. Probably originated as a pigsty, hen- house and garden store early 19c ( shown on 1841 Selworthy Tithe map). Important features: external appearance, plank and batten doors. In a fair state of repair. [1]

Surveyed in 2001, as part of the Holnicote Estate Survey; the Post Office building is described as an attractive two room tiled and local rubble stone range, mid 19c with a rear wing dating to the 17c. The front range was rebuilt. Front external stack with round upper, ogee-headed leaded light windows on the ground floor. Roof structure of pegged A-frames, built to support thatch, with adjustments made for tiles, eaves raised. Wing roof with the truss set on a tiebeam, later collars added when most of the beam was sawn out. Rear lateral stack on main range and axial stack on wing can be seen in the wing roof space. Remains of a plank and muntin screen on the wing ground floor. [2]

References

Designations

Other Statuses and References

Associated Events

Associated Finds

None Recorded

Related Records