Toll House Cottage

Summary

Small cottage built in the late C18.

Reasons for Designation

Toll House Cottage, a small cottage built in the late C18, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: it is a good example of a small late C18 cottage that retains its original plan form and additional service extension that was built soon afterwards;
* Interior: this retains numerous fixtures and fittings, including fireplaces and plank and batten doors, which reflect its late Georgian character.

History

Folkingham is a small town with an attractive square and was a popular stop for coaches in the pre-railway age. In 1872 it was described as ‘a small but ancient and well-built market town […] pleasantly situated on the Lincoln and London road, on the southern acclivity of a picturesque valley’. Despite the name of Toll House Cottage, it is unlikely that it was originally a Toll House. According to L. R. Cryer in A History of Folkingham with Laughton and Stow Green, the town did not have a turnpike of its own although there is one recorded to the north of Folkingham. The turnpike was part of the Lincoln, North District Series running from Dunsby Lane through Sleaford and Folkingham onto Graby Gate, a distance of 18 miles. The Toll Road Map of 1800 depicts a toll bar to the north of Folkingham at Walcot, and one to the south at Graby but not one in the position of Toll Bar Cottage. The building is known locally as Mill Cottage and it may therefore have been associated with a post mill that formerly stood nearby on the crest of the hill.

It is likely that the earliest phase of the building is the single-storey east side comprising a four-room dwelling which was then extended on the west side to provide a kitchen and scullery and two attic bedrooms. The room in the south-west corner of the east side of the cottage was probably made smaller to accommodate the staircase. The cottage is shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey (OS) map of 1888 with a small extension on the south-west corner. The OS map of 1905 shows that this had been extended on the south side. Both extensions have since been removed. The building has been unoccupied for about ten years and is in a bad state of disrepair (2016).

Details

Small cottage built in the late C18.

MATERIALS: red brick, partly whitewashed and partly rendered, scored to resemble ashlar. Red brick chimney stacks and pantile roof covering.

PLAN: the cottage has a rectangular plan and is located on the west side of Bourne Road to the south of Folkingham.

EXTERIOR: the cottage has a dentilled eaves cornice and irregular elevations. On the west side there is a pitched roof with a gable stack over two, low, attic rooms. The single-storey, east side has a higher pitched roof with a hip to the east through which rises a large stack. The principal, three-bay east elevation has a central four-panel front door, flanked by six-over-six pane sash windows with slender glazing bars and moulded frames. The south elevation is lit by a large six-pane window with slender glazing bars, and to the right, a sliding sash attic window. This is followed by a door with flush panels and with three vertical glazed panels in the top half. Further to the right is a two-light, casement window which appears to be C20 in date. On the north elevation there is a tie rod and a nine-pane window. The west elevation is lit by an attic window on the left hand side, but due to the scaffolding and limited access to the attic, it was not possible to see this window in any detail.

INTERIOR: the east side of the cottage contains four rooms, one occupying each corner, with a straight flight of stairs between the back two rooms. The west side, which was probably added slightly later, contains the former kitchen and scullery with two attic rooms above. There are numerous plank and batten doors with strap hinges and latches, and one four-panel door. In some rooms, where the ceiling plaster has fallen away, lath and plaster is exposed
.
The front door opens into the reception room in the north-east corner. This has an ornate, arched, cast-iron fireplace in a plain timber surround, flanked by segmental arched recesses; that on the left contains a door. The room in the south-east corner has red and black quarry floor tiles, and a corner fireplace with a plain timber surround and a hobgrate embellished with a raised, Adamesque pattern of urns. The floor of the room in the north-west corner is laid in red tiles, and a tiled fireplace in this room dates to the mid-C20. In the kitchen there is a fireplace of a similar date and it retains a chamfered and stopped bridging beam. In the scullery, there is a plank and batten door at first-floor level which was probably originally reached by a ladder to provide access to the attic. The two attic rooms retain floorboards and the larger room on the north side has a hobgrate.

Where the ceiling has fallen away in the north-east corner, part of the roof structure over the eastern side of the cottage can be seen. Some of the rafters appear to have been replaced. The roof is in the process of ongoing collapse (2016).

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

194274

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
White, , History, Gazetteer and Directory of Lincolnshire, (1872)
Bennett, Stewart, Bennett, Nicholas, An Historical Atlas of Lincolnshire, (1995)
Cryer, L. R, A History of Folkingham with Laughton and Stow Green,, (1991)

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.

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