1 and 2 Westbury and Water Pump

Reasons for Designation

1-2 Westbury are designated at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

* As well-preserved early-C19 estate workers' cottages given an effective picturesque architectural treatment * Their symmetrical and balanced design displays good quality craftsmanship using local materials * The interiors retain early-C19 features, such as plain winder stairs, batten doors and other joinery, as well as their original layout * As a planned group of cottages, they have a strong historic and visual relationship with Nos. 3-4 Westbury, an identical pair * They also have group value with the Grade I listed St Mary's Church to the south east

Details

BRADFORD ABBAS

1611/0/10013 WESTBURY 09-OCT-09 (West side) 1 and 2 Westbury and water pump

GV II Pair of estate cottages. 1820s or 1830s with later C19 and C20 additions. MATERIALS: Built in coursed local lias stone with ashlar dressings. It has a hipped slate roof and there are end stacks of stone with pairs of brick shafts that are set diagonally. The fenestration consists of inwardly opening metal casements with leaded-glass. The windows are set within stone mullioned, flat-headed surrounds with a hood-mould with square labels over. PLAN: Mirrored pair of two storey semi-detached cottages, each with a two up and two down plan and a small side range. To the rear, are small single storey additions which are accessed through the original rear entrances to the cottages. The right hand cottage (No. 2) also has a kitchen extension of C20 date that is not of interest. EXTERIOR: The facade (east) is a symmetrical composition of four bays in a Tudor style. Each cottage has a central entrance with a deep stone lintel with four-centred arch and a vertical boarded door with strap hinges. Flanking the doors are two-light casements. There is a continuous stone string course and three matching windows to the first floor. To the rear (west), the ground floor is partly obscured by the lean-tos, although the original rear doorways are now internal doors to the later-C19 additions. There is a two-light casement window to the ground and first floors of each cottage. To the north and south elevations are single storey ranges with hipped roofs; that to No. 1 (south) has had a three-light casement window inserted in the C20. INTERIOR: The internal plan form to both cottages remains largely intact. Although there have been some repairs to joinery and the sitting room fireplace to No. 2 has a mid-C20 tiled surround, most of the simple fixtures and fittings remain, such as timber battened doors and their door furniture, other joinery, and stone flooring to the sitting room of the right hand cottage. In each cottage an enclosed winder stair leads to a small landing and two bedrooms. Although not inspected the roof comprises king post trusses with V struts and a single row of staggered purlins, and is pegged. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: In the front garden of the right hand cottage is a cast iron water pump. HISTORY: In the C19, many large landowners built accommodation for their estate workers. Nos. 1-2 and its neighbour, Nos. 3-4 Westbury, form a group of identical pairs of estate cottages that were built in the early C19 for the Marquis of Anglesey who held the estate of Bradford Abbas. They were constructed some time between 1825 and 1838 and are first depicted on a map of the parish dated 1838. The first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1888 shows the two pairs of cottages situated within a large plot of land of approximately 1.4ha; marked as allotment gardens on the second edition map (1903), although this has since been sub-divided into individual gardens. Each cottage had a pigsty to the rear, though only that to No. 4 survives, but this has lost its roof. The cottages were part of the Bradford Abbas Estate until 1954. SOURCES: Eric Garrett, Bradford Abbas. The History of a Dorset Village,(1989), pp34, 207-08 Extract of Plan of Freehold Estates situated in the Parish of Bradford Abbas in the county of Dorset (1849)

REASON FOR DECISION: 1-2 Westbury are designated at Grade II, for the following principal reasons: * As well-preserved early-C19 estate workers' cottages given an effective picturesque architectural treatment * Their symmetrical and balanced design displays good quality craftsmanship using local materials * The interiors retain early-C19 features, such as plain winder stairs, batten doors and other joinery, as well as their original layout * As a planned group of cottages, they have a strong historic and visual relationship with Nos. 3-4 Westbury, an identical pair * They also have group value with the Grade I listed St Mary's Church to the south east

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

507450

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Garrett, E, Bradford Abbas: The History of the Dorset Village, (1989), 207-208

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