Bottom Pond Cottages

Summary

Pair of estate farm workers’ cottages of c1858, probably for the Earl of Northesk’s estate at Longwood House.

Reasons for Designation

Bottom Pond Cottages, Morestead, a pair of farm workers’ cottages built c1858, probably for the Earl of Northesk’s estate at Longwood House, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: an example of estate cottages of the mid C19, displaying good quality architectural detailing in a vernacular style;
* Intactness: largely intact externally, internal alterations have retained the original layout and some original features;
* Historic interest: for their likely association with the important Longwood House estate prior to its development by the architect George Devey in the 1880s.

History

A date stone on the front elevation of the cottages indicates that they were built in 1858, and they appear on the 1872 edition Ordnance Survey map. A cast-iron plaque at the centre of the stone indicates that the cottages were part of the Earl of Northesk’s estate at Longwood House, 2km to the east. Longwood House was rebuilt in the early 1880s by George Devey (1820-1886) who also designed a number of estate buildings, some of which are listed at Grade II (the house was demolished in the 1960s).

Estate cottages, like other domestic buildings associated with larger country estates such as lodges, often reflect the estate’s ‘house-style’, displaying distinct external architectural features and embellishments. In some cases they are designed by the estate architect, and/or the architect of the main house. They commonly reflect phases of estate expansion, which peaked in the early to mid C19, reflecting general agro-economic improvements and a social awareness of the need to improve labourers' accommodation.

Details

Pair of estate farm workers’ cottages of c1858, probably for the Earl of Northesk’s estate at Longwood House.
MATERIALS: red brick, laid in header bond with a diaper pattern to the front range and Flemish garden-wall bond to the rear range. Dressings are of stone and the pitched roofs are slate.

PLAN: a symmetrical T-plan with a two-storey gabled main range fronting onto the road with a two-storey rear range with a single-storey outshut to the rear. Each cottage is L-shaped in plan.There is a large central ridge stack of four shafts with a combined head.

EXTERIOR: the two-bay south-west elevation of the main range has diaper-work decoration, the brick plinth has flint panels and the ends of the elevation have brick corner pilasters with chamfered corners. The ground floor has a pair of single-storey bay windows with triple six-light timber casements and sloping roofs of a single slate slab. Above the bay windows are multi-pane, cast-iron double casements. Between the windows is a date stone bearing the date 1858. The cast-iron plaque at the centre of the stone has a coat-of-arms bearing an eagle with an earl’s coronet above and the initials ‘E’ and ‘N’ in the corner. The single-bay gable ends of the front range have diaper-work flanking cast-iron, multi-pane casements with rubbed brick heads on each floor (the ground floor window to No. 2 has been replaced with timber casements). No. 2 retains its decorative bargeboard but that to No. 1 has been replaced.

The three-bay rear range has opposed entrances with rubbed brick surrounds set in two-storey gabled bays with cast-iron casements on the first-floor and decorative bargeboards. No. 2 has a modern weatherboard porch added. The central bay has cast-iron double casements on each floor (the ground-floor of No. 2 has a modern timber replacement). The single-storey outshut has a hipped-roof with inset entrances to both cottages at the rear.

INTERIORS: both cottages have been modernised internally. No. 2 was not inspected but No. 1 retains original moulded door surrounds, brick hearths in the sitting room and outshut and an arched cast-iron register grate in one of the bedrooms.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

145508

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Allibone, J, George Devey Architect 1820-1886, (1991), 174

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