Description
This information is taken from the statutory List as it was in 2001 and may not be up to date.
LONG WHATTON HALL GATE SK 4424-4524 (Diseworth) 12/183 No 54 (Lilly's Cottage) 7.12.62 (includes part formerly listed as No 5 Peacock Cottage) GV II*
House, formerly 2 dwellings. Originally C15, extended mid C16, left wing rebuilt C17 and altered C19, all refurbished 1950s. Timber frame on rubble stone plinth, the left side and far end of left wing rebuilt. thatched roof.
Brick chimney shafts to left of C16 wing and to front corner far end on left wing. L-plan, 2 storeys. C16 WING to right is of 3 bays and has fine close studding with curved braces and colourwashed render infill. Just below eaves line on north side are pairs of small wind-eyes for ventilating upper storey. Irregular C20 casements, the north side with large 4-light wooden casement to ground floor left, 2-light casement to right of centre, 3 single metal lights between studs to first floor left, and 2-light horizontal sash to first floor centre. Ground floor windows have wooden glazing bars. South side has C20 barred wooden casements, one semi-dormer to left, and traces of a small original 3-light window to first floor. C17 WING has large rectangular panels of brick infill, the front with 3-light horizontal sash and C20 door to cross passage at right side. Door has C20 thatched hood. INTERIOR: cruck truss with yoked apex to right of cross passage; plastered cross passage wall with graffiti dated 31 March 1692, with the initials of Richard Lilly, and small drawings of hands, stars, a tower and a steeple; heavy floor joists in C16 wing; heavy stud partition between ground floor left bays of same wing; timber-framed fire hood between right bays; altered roof trusses. Home of William Lilly, 1602-81, notorious court astrologer. An inventory of the goods of a William Lillye, 1635, presumably relating to this house, survives in Leicester Record Office and is printed in M W Barley, The English Farmhouse and Cottage, 1961 and 1967, p.278-9.
Listing NGR: SK4530124534