Summary
House, thought to have been built in the C16, with significant alterations and additions in subsequent centuries. C21 extensions to the north and south ends do not contribute to the special interest of the building.
Reasons for Designation
Malmains Cottage, a C16 house with significant alterations and additions made in subsequent centuries, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as a small timber-framed house of the C16, possibly built with a smoke bay, and retaining its integrity as such whilst showing evidence of later evolution including the probable construction of a brick stack in the C17, and encasing in brick in the C18;
* for the survival of extensive elements of framing including substantial chamfered beams;
* for the rare survival of two small diamond-mullioned timber windows, thought to date from the C16, one at least thought to be in its original position.
Group value:
* with 1 and 2 Mill Pond Cottages and Malmains, both to the north-east.
History
The house now known as Malmains Cottage (the name West Cottage is also associated with the site) is thought to have originated in the C16; built as a timber-framed house, the external walls were rebuilt in brick, probably in the C18, but much of the timber frame remains internally, providing evidence of the building’s evolution. It appears that the house was probably originally of three cells, corresponding to the footprint of the historic building as it stands today, with a hearth in the current position; the present brick stack may have be part of the first phase of the building, though it is more likely that it was an intervention of the C17, before which the hearth may have served by a smoke bay (built to contain an open hearth), or by an earlier chimney. Nor is it possible to be certain about the details of the building’s original plan form. In its current form, the house has a lobby entry plan, with the eastern entrance opening to a lobby in front of the stack; there is also a western entrance facing the road. Both entrances appear to have been in use at least since the brick re-building. The current straight stair parallel with the stack to the north is not original to the building; the position of the original stair is not known. In 1838, when the Tithe map was produced, the house retained its original footprint, and had a small number of outbuildings in a loose arrangement; these evolved through the C19 but have now gone. At the time of the production of the Tithe map, the house was in the ownership of the Dering family. By 1871 the house had been divided in two; the precise arrangement of the partition is not known, though the most likely division appears to have been along the line of the transverse beam to the north of the stack. Access to the northern dwelling would have been through the door in the western elevation, with the northern dwelling being heated by a secondary stack at the north end of the building; access to the southern dwelling would have been through the doorway in the eastern elevation, possibly with access to the stair through a doorway at the bottom of the stair which has since become a window. Between 1871 and 1907, the OS mapping shows an addition was made against the northern part of the east elevation, probably a single-storey lean-to. The OS mapping shows the division of the house continuing into the C20, but it may have returned to single occupancy before then. By 1928, when the house was sold as part of the Surrenden Dering estate, the house was a single dwelling; the sales particulars indicate that at that time the upper part of the building was weatherboarded, rather than tile-hung, as today. The new owner also bought Malmains, a substantial house to the north-east; Malmains Cottage accommodated his valet and housekeeper, a married couple.
By 1974, the north-eastern lean-to had been removed. In 2004 the house received an in-line extension to the north, enlarging the northern ground-floor room, and providing an additional room above. In 2005 a porch was added, protecting the eastern entrance, and in 2007 a single-storey extension was added to the south-west, enlarging the kitchen. As a result of these early C21 works two small mullioned windows were uncovered, one to the east elevation and one to the west.
Details
House, thought to have been built in the C16, with significant alterations and additions in subsequent centuries. C21 extensions to the north and south ends do not contribute to the special interest of the building.
MATERIALS: red brick, laid in Flemish bond, the first floor being tile-hung. The original part of the building has a rubblestone plinth which supported a timber frame; parts of the frame survive within the building. There is a hipped roof, covered with plain tiles, and a tall chimney with a stepped upper section which appears to have been partly rebuilt. The window frames are timber casements; most of the window openings have been enlarged. There are also two small historic windows with timber diamond-mullions and leaded lights.
PLAN: set on a roughly north-south axis, the house is now a long rectangle on plan, with the original parts of the building in the centre, comprising two units to the north of the stack and one unit to the south. There are C21 in-line extensions at either end; the northern extension being two-storey, and the southern extension single-storey.
EXTERIOR: the western, road-facing elevation is now six windows wide, the northern and southern windows belonging to the early-C21 extensions. The entrance opens into the north end of the room to the north of the stack, and has a timber surround with a simple bracketed hood. To the north of the doorway are two-light casement windows, and to the south of the doorway are three-light windows, the ground-floor windows being taller. Beneath the eaves, in line with the stack, is one of the historic timber-mullioned windows. To the south of the stack is the final original bay. On the eastern, garden-facing elevation, the entrance is beneath the stack, protected by the 2005 brick porch. Slightly to the north, beneath the eaves, is the second historic mullioned window. The arrangement of windows is similar to that on the west elevation; the stair is lit by a small ground-floor window which appears to have been reduced from a doorway. The northern extension is built in a style closely following that of the existing building in both form and materials, with a substantial projecting end stack. The single-storey southern extension is also sympathetic to the original building.
INTERIOR: the western entrance opens into the central room, now the dining room, with the substantial brick stack to the south. The eastern entrance opens to a small lobby to the east of the stack, which has a chamfered bressumer to the dining room opening, and incorporates transverse beams to both north and south. An axial beam runs the length of the central ground-floor room, now the dining room, set into a transverse beam. Both beams are chamfered and stopped, with rounded step stops, as are the joists set into the axial beam. At the southern end, the axial beam is set into the beam above the chimney opening; at the northern end, the beam is truncated by the insertion of the partition forming the southern limit of the current stair. The northern wall of the stair retains elements of original framing, including a joweled post to at the junction with the eastern wall; in the beam above is a redundant mortice for a stud. The brace in this position is a later addition. The northern ground-floor room, now the sitting room, has been enlarged by the extension to the north, with the removal of the northern end wall. The southern portion of the room does not appear to retain framing comparable with that of the dining room; there is an unchamfered axial beam which is supported at the southern end by a fairly crude post, rather than being framed into the wall, and the joists have been covered. The southern room, now the kitchen, has also been enlarged, with the removal of the southern wall; no historic features are visible within this area. On the first floor, the stair landing opens to the south to the central room; a small window has been inserted in the partition wall, known locally as a ‘look light’. In the central room the lower part of the roof structure is exposed, together with the posts and studs beneath the wall plate. Above the chimney opening, the truss is exposed, resting on jowled posts. At the southern end of the room’s eastern wall is one of the historic mullioned windows, apparently fitting into the original framing; the framing suggests a similar window may have filled an opening at the northern end of this wall. In the space to the east of the stack there is now a cupboard. To the west of the stack a passage leads to the southern room, now lit by a historic mullioned window, possibly not in its original position; the brick stack rises to the east of this space. The southern section of the first floor has been divided into two rooms but the main elements of the frame remain visible. The timber framing of the northern room is largely exposed, with straight downward braces to the northern corners; the lower part of the hipped roof structure is also exposed. The upper part of the roof space was accessible only to the south of the stack. Here, the principal rafters adjoining the stack appear to have been blackened by smoke, supporting the theory of an original smoke-bay, though this is not conclusive. The rafters are pegged at the apex. The stack itself appears to be of C17 brickwork.
