Seventeen century Merchant’s House. Half timbered, with cob and stone mix to side and rear, plastered, under gabled-end slate roof thought to have been built about the same time period as the Manor and Walronds. It was built with a shop and storage on the ground floor and family accommodation above.
It was formerly called Westerns after a blacksmith of that name who lived there in the 1850s Mr Frederic Burrow had his solicitor’s offices here and the practice was taken over by his son Alfred Burrows. Following his death in the 1940s it was taken over by the Nichols family solicitors and then Ashford Sparkes and Harward until the office close in 1994.
An extension was added to the rear of the property soon after WW2 and a solicitor and his family lived here for some years. Later the modern extension was used as a print works and then as a courtyard café. The property was also used as a second-hand bookshop before being auctioned in 1996 and becoming a private home.
Timeline
| Date | Occupants |
|---|---|
| 1851 Census | Richard Weston, 52, smith, employing one man, born Cullompton; Sarah, 44, born Cullompton John, 16, smith’s apprentice, born Cullompton Sarah A, 4, born Cullompton Harriet Sweet, 20, domestic servant, born Cullompton |
| 1861 Census | Richard Weston, 60, general smith, born Cullompton Jane, wife, 53, born Butterleigh Sarah Ann, daughter, 14, scholar, born Cullompton Margaret Wilcocks, boarder, 21, schoolmistress, born Bracknell in Berkshire Mary Ann Bray, boarder, 16, scholar, born Butterleigh John Henry Page, boarder, 23, schoolmaster, born London William May?, Boarder, 23, smith’s journeyman, born Butterleigh John Arbery, boarder, 14, smith’s apprentice, born Cullompton James Dunning, visitor, 6, scholar, born Exeter Eliza Taylor, 19, house, servant, born Cullompton |
| 1871 Census | Richard Western?, 71, blacksmith, born Cullompton Sarah, 63, born Butterleigh Ellen Brown, boarder, 29, certificated teacher, born Exeter Emma Didham, 13, general domestic servant, born Cullompton |
| 1881 Census | John Goss, married, 28, Baker, born Cullompton Clara Ann, wife, 29, born Shoreditch Jack, son, 4, scholar, born Shoreditch George, son, 2, born Cullompton |
| 1891 Census | Unoccupied |