Royal Oak Inn, Meavy

Grade-II listed, 26/01/87. List Entry No 110 5441, Legacy System No 92706. Inn, originally church house. Early C16, with C18 extensions altered in C19. Rendered stone rubble walls exposed at rear. Gable ended slate roof. 3 stone rubble stacks, one at each gable end and a lateral stack at the front. Originally 2 storey, 3 room plan probably with cross passage and not through passage as the ground level is higher at the rear. As a church house the normal room functions would not necessarily apply but each of these rooms appears originally to have been heated unless the lateral stack served a 1st floor fireplace of which there is now no sign. An original straight run staircase was placed in a projection at the rear of the central room. In the C18 a single storey outbuilding was added at the right-hand end. In circa early C19 an entrance door was inserted directly beneath the front lateral stack. Later in the C19 an outshut was added at the left and right-hand ends. Probably in the C20 the 2 left-hand rooms were knocked into one. 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 4 window front. At the left on the lst floor is an early C19 casement of 1 light with small panes. The 2 central 1st floor windows are early C19 16 pane hornless sashes with a C20 facsimile to their right. On the ground floor to the left is a C20 French window. To its right are 2 C20 2-light casements with small panes, the left-hand one is in a slightly arched opening. Right of centre is an early C19 6-panel door under a probably contemporary gabled doorhood supported on carved brackets. To its right is a C20 16 pane sash window. Single storey C18 outbuilding attached at the right-hand with a C19 lean-to beyond it and another at the left gable end. At the rear is a rectangular stair projection to right of centre. To its left on the 1st floor is an original 2-light granite mullion window with segmental heads to the lights. A photograph of the front of the house when the plaster was removed a few years ago reveals similar blocked 2-light mullion window towards the left end. It also shows that the ground floor window in the slightly arched opening is in fact occupying a stone arched doorway, presumably the original entrance. Interior: The right-hand room has a very large inglenock fireplace with 2 stone ovens. Monolithic granite jamb to the left and chamfered wooden lintel with traces of hollow step stops. There are 3 chamfered cross beams to the ceiling with hollow step stops. The left-hand room has similar ceiling beams, although one is plain, with very recent joists. The stair has had the treads replaced but has a distinctive 'stepped' ceiling similar to the stairs in the Church House at Walkhampton. In the 1st right-hand extension the roof trusses are fairly substantial and pegged at the apex, with lapped and pegged collars. Roof space over the main building not inspected and the structure may be of interest. Source: G W Copeland - Devonshire Church Houses: T.D.A. XCIII, p.128.