Little Whitnage Whitnage Cottage

Details

UPLOWMAN WHITNAGE ST 01 NW 4/195 Whitnage Cottage and Little - Whitnage GV II

2 cottages, formerly a single farmhouse. Early or mid C16, with major later C16 and C17 improvements, some late C19 modernisation, renovated circa 1960. Plastered stone rubble, probably with some cob; stone rubble and cob stacks topped with C19 and C20 brick; concrete tile roof, formerly thatch. Plan and development: L-shaped building, now containing 2 cottages. The main block is built alongside the road and faces onto it to the north-north-west, say north. It is built down a hillslope. Originally this main block had a 3-room-and-through- passage plan. Downhill at the right (west) end Little Whitnage occupies the former service end parlour and site of the passage. The lower passage partition has been removed and now passage and parlour make up one room. The former parlour has a projecting gable-end stack. Whitnage Cottage occupies the former hall and inner room end. The hall has a large axial cob stack backing onto the site of the former passage. The inner room end has been subdivided or enlarged into 2 rooms and there was once a gable-end stack. Circa 1960 a 1-room plan extension was built at right angle to rear of the inner room end. Only a small part of the early or mid C16 house remains but there is enough there to show that it was some kind of open hall house, open to the roof and heated by an open hearth fire. The hall fireplace was added in the mid or late C16. The service end was rebuilt in the early Cl7 as a parlour. The hall was probably floored over about the same time and it was then converted to a kitchen. The inner room end has been much altered in the C19 and C20. There is some evidence of a gable-end stack but it has been demolished. It seems likely that there was a small parlour here before the service end was rebuilt. The farmhouse was probably converted to cottages in the C18. Both cottages are 2 storeys and there are C20 service outshots across the whole of the front. Exterior: irregular 3-window front and 4 to the service outshots, all C20 casements and only a couple have glazing bars. Right of centre Little Whitnage has a front doorway into the service outshot. Whitnage Cottage doorway is in the left (west) gable end. Both contain C20 doors. The roof is gable-ended. In the right (west) end there is a restored late C16 - early Cl7 4-light oak-mullioned window in which the narrow lights have Tudor arch heads. The rear has similar fenestration to the front although there is a first floor window at the Whitnage Cottage end which is mid or late Cl7; it is 2 lights, oak-framed with a flat faced mullion, contains rectangular panes of leaded glass and an orginal iron casement with an ornate wrought iron catch. Interior: in Whitnage Cottage a short section of an oak plank-and-muntin screen is exposed on the former inner room side between the former hall and inner room. It maybe an original feature but it has painted on it traces of mid or late C16 colour; chevron patterns on the headbeam and muntins with floral motifs on the planks. The hall itself has a large stone rubble fireplace which contains a C19 side oven. It has a soffit-chamfered oak lintel which rests on a large oak corbel on the left side. The probably early Cl7 crossbeam here has deep hollow soffit chamfers and is unstopped. The roof structure over Whitnage Cottage (former hall and inner room) was replaced in the C20. In Little Whitnage the former service end parlour has a good 9-panel ceiling of intersecting beams with broad hollow soffit-chamfers. This stops on the line of the former passage lower side partition. In fact this partition still survives. It has been moved back a short distance to line the present party wall between the two cottages. It is an oak plank-and-muntin screen containing a blocked crank-headed doorway. The roof over this section is early. It is 2 bays. The inner (eastern) bay is original and its purlins and common rafters are heavily smoke-blackened from the original open hearth fire. The truss and outer (western) bay are associated with the early or mid C17 rebuild. The truss has a front side-pegged jointed cruck principal but rear straight principal. Also Cl7 is the oak-framed partition between the first floor chambers. This multi-phrase former farmhouse forms part of a group of interesting listed buildings in the hamlet of Whitnage.

Listing NGR: ST0262015648

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

96044

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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