Chapple Cottage

Details

DOLTON SS 51 SE 5/41 Chapple Cottage II*

House. Second half of the C15 with 2 phases of C16 alterations. Rendered cob walls. Thatch roof hipped to left end, gabled to right. Projecting rubble stack at right gable-end with brick shaft and projecting part rendered rubble front lateral stack. Plan: originally 2 or 3-room-and-through-passage plan. Very narrow lower room to left. The hall originally had a central hearth and together with the lower end was open to the roof. The inner room is somewhat more problematic as its original roof does not survive and a thick wall divides it from the hall with a step up. It is possible therefore that it is an addition, alternatively it could be contemporary in which case it was either floored from the start or else early in the C16. A further puzzling feature is the apparently early C16 doorframe on the 1st floor into the chamber over the inner room since this must predate the flooring of the hall - if it is not re-used it seems likely that a ladder may have led up to it from the open hall. The hall itself probably underwent a 2-phase modernisation to achieve its present form with the front lateral stack inserted first into the open hall in circa mid C16 and the final flooring of the hall and lower end completed by the late C16. Probably in the C20 the passage was blocked at the rear for the formation of a bathroom. Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 4-window front of C20 1 and 2-light small-paned casements with top opening lights. Wide C20 plank door to passage towards left-hand end. The lateral stack is to its right with a curved oven projection adjoining it. Small squint window in left-hand angle of chimney stack projection. Interior: is surprisingly complete. At the rear of the passage is a small wooden unchamfered doorframe with square-headed pegged frame which looks crude enough to be an early feature and is probably re-used from somewhere else in the house. Plank and muntin screen between passage and hall with chamfered unstopped muntins - possibly an original low partition or a C16 insertion. Lateral fireplace to hall has very high hollow chamfered wooden lintel. Axial chamfered ceiling beam with pyramid stops and narrow-chamfered joists. The inner room has crude very broad, flat and closely spaced joists which have a very early appearance leading into the chamber above is an unchamfered wooden pegged doorframe with shouldered head which is unlikely to be later than mid C16. Roof: the original roof is complete over the lower end and hall, smoke-blackened throughout, with 2 pairs of full crucks. Square set ridge clasped between the tops of the principals and resting on a small yoke. Cranked morticed collar chamfered on soffit. Just over the lower side of the present passage is what appears to be the remains of a smoke louvre. It consists on each side of the roof of a wooden board held against the rafters by a timber extending up from the purlin below and pegged onto the board. Visible in the underside of each board is what appears to be a vertical strut which extended originally outside to form the vent and there are mortices on each board at the other end for a similar strut. In the wall at the higher end of roof (dividing hall from inner room) is a smoke-blackened post supporting the ridge. This is noteable medieval house of an early date which has had a complex evolution of plan and preserves interesting features from each phase of its development with a particularly complete and important roof structure.

Listing NGR: SS5576510663

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

90832

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.