MEM25349 - The Old Post Office, Parracombe Lane, Parracombe (Building)

The Old Post Office is a late 19th century building, tall, and like other buildings of the period out of scale with earlier cottages, but with some surviving sash windows and part roofed in Cornish slate. [1] A building is visible on Google Street View as a part rendered property (northeastern part), with the render painted pink. The remaining structure (southwestern part) is stone built with stone lintels that have been painted to match the rendered part. Most of the windows are sashes; the northeastern part has an oriel sash window on the first floor. The ground floor below the oriel window has a larger, later casement window, which appears to form part of an infill of the original shop entrance. A sign above the window names the property "The Old Post Office". There is only one door on this elevation, in the southwestern part of the property. N.B. The building appears to be in one ownership; however, it may in fact be subdivided and form two dwellings. [2-4] The building is shown on the 25 inch Ordnance Survey map. It is depicted as subdivided, but within the same ownership. [5] The building was not extant when the 25 inch 1st Edition map was surveyed. [6] The building is mentioned in the 2019 Conservation Area Appraisal for Parracombe. It is noted that it retains part of its original shop front. [7] The evidence for the building's previous use as a post office, other than its name, is not clear. [8] The heritage asset was assessed for inclusion on the Exmoor Local Heritage List in November 2022. It was decided to add the asset to the Local Heritage List. [9]