The claim
Tucked beside the church in a village near Totnes, this Tudor church house is said to have lodged the masons who built the church next door. It keeps a fine oak plank-and-muntin screen and old settles, though the bar counter came from a bank in 1985. It is a community local with cask ale, cider and monthly live music.
What the records show
CAMRA dates the building to the mid-to-late sixteenth century, and Historic England now says the same thing independently and in much more detail. Its list entry, read on 17 September 2026 through an archived copy of entry 1108225, describes a public house, originally the church house, of circa mid to late sixteenth century, at grade II*. The plan is three rooms with a large central hall heated by a rear lateral stack; the screen between hall and end room is plank-and-muntin with roll-moulded muntins and a moulded head beam, with butt stops high up where a bench has gone; a sixteenth-century four-light moulded timber window frame with four-centred arched heads and roundels in the spandrels survives in the front, a doorway cut through two of its lights; and the roof carries eleven trusses, probably raised crucks with curved feet and mostly jointed. Church houses were built for the parish's ales, so drinking here is plausible from the start, but nothing traced records it, and the claims of twelfth- or thirteenth-century origin that circulate have nothing behind them. So the fabric is of the claimed century and the drinking is not documented at it, which is grade B.
What to look for inside
- Early oak plank-and-muntin screen
- Bar fittings salvaged from a bank in 1985
Visiting
The Church House Inn is in Harberton, England, at Harberton, Totnes TQ9 7SF. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.
Sources
- camra.org.uk/pubs/church-house-inn-harberton-148691
- churchhouseinnharberton.com/
- web.archive.org/web/2023/https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1108225
- ratings.food.gov.uk/business/1726682
Know something we don’t?Suggest a correctionLast checked Sept 2026
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