Newcott Virginia Cottage

Details

BROADHEMBURY BROADHEMBURY SY 10 SW

5/40 Newcott and Virginia Cottage 22.2.55 (formerly listed as Newcott)

GV II

2 adjoining cottages, originally one house. Late medieval origins, remodelled in the later C16/early C17, date of sub-division into cottages unknown but some C20 alteration of internal partitions. Creamwashed rendered cob and stone; thatched roof with a plain ridge, gabled at ends (Virginia Cottage probably originally hipped at the right end); left end stack and axial stack with brick shafts. Plan: A single depth south-facing main range. The present arrangement is Newcott to the left (west), 2 rooms wide with a central entrance facing a stair; Virginia Cottage to the right (east) 2 rooms wide with a stair rising against the rear wall from the right hand room. Both cottages have been re-organised internally but surviving evidence suggests that Virginia Cottage was the higher end consisting of a hall and inner room. Newcott containing remnants of the throught passage (at the right end) with blocked opposed doors and the headbeam of a plank and muntin screen in situ. The rest of Newcott is, presumably, the lower end but is unusually long. The house originated as a medieval open hall, the smoke-blackened medieval timbers surviving in Virginia Cottage. It was not clear on survey (1987) whether Newcott was also open to the roof timbers or whether the lower end (also of jointed cruck construction) was always storeyed. The open hall was floored in the late C16/early C17, presumably with the hall stack backing on to the passage, the position of the present axial stack, which appears to be a C20 replacement with a smaller chimney breast and staggered fireplaces. The lower end probably functioned as the kitchen in the C17 (large bread oven) and the inner room has never been heated. The lower side partition of the through passage has been moved and the screen has been re-sited on the right hand wall of the C17 kitchen. Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 5 window front (2 windows to Newcott), the eaves thatch eyebrowed over 4 first floor windows. C20 plank and stud estate door in the centre of Newcott with a slated porch hood, flanked by 3-light C20 timber casements with glazing bars, the right hand window converted from the original front door to the through passage. The first floor dormer is glazed with a pair of 2-light C20 casements with square leaded panes. Virginia cottage is more irregular with a C20 estate plank and stud front door to right of centre, the slate door hood carried over as a pentice to a 1-light C20 casement to the left with square leaded panes. 2 windows to the left are C20 timber casements with glazing bars. 3 first floor dormers glazed with C20 casements with square leaded panes. Semi-circular bread oven on left return of New Cottage. Interior: Rich in carpentry. The left hand hand room of New Cottage has a chamfered stopped crossbeam and a (re-sited) plank and muntin screen with chamfered stopped muntins. The right hand retains the head beam of the re-sited screen, formerly the lower side passage partition. Virginia Cottage has deeply-chamfered crossbeams with step stops. A half-beam of the same design about half a metre in front of the left end wall suggests that a larger stack has been removed and replaced with the present chimney. Roof: Side pegged jointed cruck trusses, the feet descending to the ground, survive in both houses. Apex of roof inspected only in Virginia Cottage, where smoke- blackening is visible; the ridge is diagonally-set. The end of a hip cruck is visible at the right end of Virginia Cottage. A house of Medieval origins of especial interest both as part of a very unspoiled estate village but also as one of 8 closely-spaced surviving medieval houses in a village context.

Listing NGR: ST1006604810

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

87042

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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