Woodside Cottage, Diamond End

Summary

A cottage and former public house with some C18 fabric, C19 alterations, and a large 1985 extension.

Reasons for Designation

Woodside Cottage, Diamond End, a cottage and former public house with some C18 fabric and C19 alterations, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a modest, late-vernacular cottage;
* for its features of regional distinctiveness, including its hybrid timber and brick structure, weatherboarding, and tiled roofs.

Historic interest:

* as a simple cottage, providing evidence of the housing of rural agricultural labourers and those with 'cottage industries' such as straw plait making;
* as a former beer house, 'the Woodman', illustrating a lost aspect of life in the hamlet of Diamond End.

History

Woodside Cottage is likely to have been built in the C18 and undergone some reconstruction in the C19. Its timber frame is a hybrid of older and newer elements, including some large, hand-worked elm beams and some light-weight pine studs that have been machine sawn. A small area of smoke blackening in the roof timbers suggests that a fire may have affected the property at some stage and could have been the cause of the changes in its timber frame.

Its earliest discernible form was as a two-storey, two-bay cottage with a central brick chimney stack. It had a half-hipped roof with a catslide over a rear outshut. The first floor of the north and south elevations was weatherboarded. Historically the first floor east elevation was covered in render.

The building first appeared on Ordnance Survey maps in the 1870s.

It operated as a beer house in 1861 and continued to function as a public house into the early C20, known as The Woodman. Its clientele are likely to have reflected the local mix of agricultural labourers and straw plaiters. The pub was managed by the Passell or Pestell family until the 1880s when it was taken on by the Hills. It was owned by the Hertford Brewery in 1910 and managed by Ellis Hill at that date. By 1911, Ellis and his wife Elizabeth had eight children living with them in the house and it was no longer operating as a pub.

By 1939 the building had become known by its present name, Woodside Cottage.

A photograph thought to date from the 1960s shows the building before its major period of alteration. There was a porch at the southern end of the east elevation, and on the north side of the house was a single storey outshut. The first floor of the east elevation was finished in stucco, rather than weatherboard, and was painted to resemble timber framing.

Floor plans from 1978 show the ground floor had a dining room and lounge on either side of the chimney stack, with a kitchen and bathroom in the western outshut. The first floor had four bedrooms.

In 1985 permission was granted for a major campaign of extension, alteration and renewal. A two-storey crosswing was added to the north elevation, replacing an earlier outshut. The plan form was heavily altered, removing the service spaces from the historic part of the building altogether, and relocating the front door into the crosswing. The earlier porch was demolished. Both fireplaces have received a degree of alteration to their jambs and lintels. The south elevation was entirely clad in new fabric. The first floor east elevation was covered in weatherboard, and the walling itself may have been reconstructed in the same area. Much of the original roof structure was retained, but was augmented and strengthened by some additional carpentry. All of the windows were replaced and are of lesser interest, with the exception of two small, square windows on the ground floor west elevation. The ground floor windows of the east elevation have been heavily altered, and no longer reflect the historic arrangement, which can be glimpsed by some surviving closers in the brickwork.

The 1985 crosswing extension is not considered to be of special interest.

Details

A cottage and former public house with some C18 fabric, C19 alterations, and a large 1985 extension.

MATERIALS

The house is partly timber framed in elm and pine, and partly built of red brick. There is a small area of flint walling. The roofs are covered in plain tiles.

PLAN

Historically the building had a two-cell plan either side of a central chimney stack. This has been altered in several ways, principally by the addition of a two-storey crosswing at the north end.

EXTERIOR

The principal elevation faces east towards the road. It is two storeys high and has a half-hipped roof covered in plain tiles. To the right-hand side is a gabled crosswing. To the left is the two-bay historic core of the house, divided by a central chimney stack through the ridge of the roof. The first floor is covered in weatherboarding. The ground floor is walled in brick. The principal entrance is in the return elevation of the crosswing, beneath a tiled canopy. The fenestration all dates from around 1985 and is of lesser interest, except the two small square windows on the ground floor west elevation. The brickwork of the historic ground floor was originally laid in Flemish bond but shows some areas of alteration: on the left-hand side is an area of altered brickwork where the original doorway has been blocked. Closers show the position of original window openings, now somewhat altered.

The south elevation has been entirely renewed in the late-C20. The first floor has been re-clad in new weatherboards, and the ground floor brickwork has been renewed or replaced in stretcher bond. The small window and French doors are also from the 1985 renovations.

The west elevation has a catslide roof over the outshut at the rear of the original cottage. Within the catslide are two large dormer windows constructed in around 1985, replacing smaller ones. At ground floor the walling is a mixture of uncoursed flint and brick quoins. The rear of the gabled crosswing projects further west.

The crosswing, which is not considered of special interest, continues the same use of brickwork at ground floor, weatherboarding above, and pitched, tiled roofs.

INTERIOR

The principal internal features are the exposed elements of the timber frame, the brick chimney stack, and the staircase.

The timber frame has been complicated by the level of alteration that has taken place, and the introduction of some timbers for purely cosmetic purposes, probably in the C20. The chamfered bridging beams either side of the chimney stack at ground floor, and the rails and wall plates are the best surviving early features and are made of elm, worked by axe rather than with saws.

The brick chimney stack has back-to-back fireplaces at ground floor. There is no other evidence for additional chimneys and it is possible that the upper bedrooms were historically unheated. While the chimney stack is perhaps C18 in date, the jambs and lintels of the fireplaces have been altered.

The stair compartment is lined with matchboard dado panelling. The treads of the stair may have been renewed but the risers appear to be historic.

There are several historic plank and batten doors, some of which may date to the C18 or early C19.

The roof structure has been altered to accommodate the addition of the gabled crosswing. The historic roof is formed of common rafters and side purlins. The rafters have been partly supplemented by late-C20 timbers, but many appear to be original roughly hewn timbers.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

162806

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Other
Ordnance Survey, Hertfordshire 6" (Surveyed 1878, published 1881-1884)
Ordnance Survey, Bedfordshire 6" (Surveyed 1879, published 1884)
Ordnance Survey, Bedfordshire 25" (Surveyed 1879-1880, published 1881) and subsequent.
Census data: 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1911, 1939
1910 Lloyd George Domesday records
"Application to de-list" report produced by the Rural Planning Practice (February 2024)

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.

Print the official list entry