Historic England gives 1635–1640 as the construction dates for the arcade, drawing on datestones set into the buildings.[1] The architectural historian Bridget Cherry, in her Devon volume of the Pevsner Buildings of England series, revised and reissued in 2004, gives a slightly earlier date of commencement of 1628 and notes that the row was built on reclaimed land on the bank of the River Dart.[2] The development began as a partnership between two local burghers, William Gurney and Mark Hawkins, the latter of whom served as receiver of Dartmouth, and was part of a wider undertaking that saw the construction of the New Quay on the Dart. In 1635, Gurney sold out to Hawkins who had completed the row by 1640, at a total cost of some £2,500.[3]
In 1943, during World War II, the Butterwalk was severely damaged by German bombing. Restoration was undertaken in David Nye & Partners in the 1950s.[a][5] No. 6 now houses the Dartmouth Museum on its upper storey.[3] The museum contains a chamber, The King's Room, named in honour of Charles II, who was entertained to lunch in the Butterwalk in July 1671, after being forced to take shelter at Dartmouth during a storm when he was sailing from Plymouth to London.[6] No. 12, whose upper storey also forms part of the museum, contains an important ceiling depicting the Tree of Jesse, which is thought to be the only such depiction undertaken in plaster.[b][7]
Architecture and description
The Butterwalk is of three storeys with attics above. The first storey has a large jetty which extends over the street frontage and is supported by eleven granitepiers.[8] The upper storeys are faced with elaborate wood carvings.[8] Cherry describes the arcade as "Dartmouth's pride", and notes the "sumptuous standard" of the buildings' interiors.[2] Historic England considers the arcade as "one of the finest rows of merchants' houses dating from the first half of the 17th century anywhere in England".[1] Each of the four houses in the row is designated a Grade I listed building.[3][5][4][8]
Gallery
The Butterwalk c.1894
An oblique view
View along the Butterwalk
Detail of the wood carving on the frontage
Notes
^The Butterwalk originally had a further house at its eastern end, fronted by two more pillars on the ground-floor arcade, but this was not reconstructed in the post-war restoration.[4]
^The Jesse ceiling was badly damaged during the bombing in World War II and was reconstructed using original fragments which were recovered following the air raids.[7]
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