Woodend Cottage

Details

LUTTON

1743/0/10010 ASHTON WOLD 17-DEC-09 Woodend Cottage

GV II The building is a two storey cottage (originally a pair) by William Huckvale c1900 for Charles Rothschild, in Vernacular Revival style. It was built as accommodation for estate staff.

MATERIALS: The walls are faced in coursed, rock-faced limestone, which is snecked, and the roof is covered in Collyweston limestone slate.

PLAN: The building has a rectangular plan-form and is laid out on a north/south alignment.

EXTERIOR: A central ridge stack in stone and brick breaks up the massing of the pitched roof that sweeps over twin eyebrow dormers at the front and rear. The principal elevation at ground floor, has a pair of 3 light, mullioned windows in dressed stone with flush, lugged surrounds, moulded mullions and leaded glazing in iron casement frames. The entrance door to the north end, has a dressed stone surround. Ground floor windows and door have drip moulds. At first floor there is a pair of 4 light mullioned windows similar to those at ground floor, but with arched heads to conform to the curve of the dormers. The rear elevation (east) is fenestrated in similar fashion to the principal elevation but with two vertical boarded doors to storage areas at the southern end. A modern glazed door has also been inserted at the northern end. All doors are painted the Rothschild livery.

The south flank elevation has a 4 light, mullioned window in dressed stone with hoodmould at ground floor, and a similar 2 light mullioned window above. The north flank has a single pane window with dressed stone surround, at ground floor, and a 2 light mullioned window at first floor.

A detached single-storey wash house lies to the rear of the cottage. It is built in the same vernacular revival style as the cottage using the same materials and detailing. It has a pyramidal roof of Collyweston slate, and a tall stone chimney stack. There are vertically boarded doors painted in the estate colour, to the north and east elevations, and 2 light mullioned window to the north elevation which has had its leaded lights replaced with single panes.

INTERIOR At ground floor there is a small entrance area at the north-east corner, with stairs leading to the first floor. An original newel post remains although the stair case is likely to have been replaced later in the C20. There is a large single space that may have originally been two separate rooms. The northern half is now used as a kitchen/dining area and the southern half as a sitting room. There are built-in cupboards, quarry tile flooring and original internal doors in the kitchen area. There is a fire place in the siting room area. There is also a walk in larder off the kitchen, which has leaded-lights and rat-tail door latches.

At first floor there is a central corridor and partition walls which have been inserted as part of a later remodelling/conversion of the dwelling to create the existing layout. There are 2 larger bedrooms on the east side, and 2 bathrooms and 2 smaller bedrooms on the west side. There are no fireplaces and other features of interest.

HISTORY: The Ashton Estate, stretching from the River Nene near Oundle in the west to Ashton Wold in the east, has been occupied since Roman times. In the C18 it was a well-known sporting estate, with avenues of chestnut trees planted in a cross as rides, and a number of fox coverts. In the early C19 the estate was owned by William Walcot and was largely farmed by tenants, with Ashton Wold continuing as a sporting ground. However, there is no evidence that it had ever contained a manor house, and when in 1860 it was purchased by Lionel Rothschild the sale particulars describe it as 'a very valuable and important landed estate', with sporting advantages, but no house adapted for the occupation of a gentleman. Both Lionel Rothschild and his son Nathaniel Mayer, 1st Lord Rothschild (1840-1915), showed little interest in estate, and the only structural work undertaken in the C19 was the building of a hunting lodge at Ashton Wold. However, when Lord Rothschild's second son, Nathaniel Charles (1877-1923) - known as Charles - discovered Ashton by accident whilst on a butterfly-collecting expedition with the vicar of Polebrook, he was so impressed by the rich fauna and flora of Ashton Wold that he persuaded his father to build him a house on the site of the hunting lodge. In 1900 Lord Rothschild commissioned William Huckvale to design not only a house, but a model farm, an entire complement of estate buildings which included the Steward's house, stables, gardeners' accommodation, a building to house a fire engine, a petrol store, kennels (now derelict) and a dog hospital. Most of the cottages at nearby Ashton were rebuilt to create a model village. The Rothschilds also became the first landowners in the country to provide their tenants with the luxury of both running filtered water and electricity, the latter generated by turbines housed in an old mill below the village on the River Nene, from where water was pumped to a water tower and so to the estate buildings. Each cottage had a bath house and was placed in a large garden planted with a lilac, a laburnum and fruit trees.

Woodend Cottage was designed by William Huckvale (1847-1936) in the early C20. Originally built as a pair of cottages to accommodate estate workers, they were subsequently converted into a single dwelling sometime later in the C20. Other than some very minor external changes to some of the fenestration and changes to the internal arrangement, the building retains its original form and character.Little is known about Huckvale who worked mainly for the Rothschilds and therefore had no need to publicise his work in the architectural journals, and was not a member of the RIBA. After setting up his own practice in London he came into contact with Alexander Parks, agent to Lord Rothschild. He designed a number of buildings for the Rothschilds on the Tring Park estate, undertook considerable work at the Rothschild bank in New Court in the City of London, and was the architect for the Royal Mint Refinery. He also carried out work on the Rothschild estate at Aston Clinton. The quality of his work is reflected in the 42 listed buildings he already has to his name, 13 in Tring and 29 on the Ashton Estate.

Charles Rothschild was a renowned naturalist, and became the leading expert on fleas in the country. He published around 150 scientific papers and was also interested in other fields, including the cultivation of rare orchids, irises and water lilies. He was a pioneer conservationist, arguing that the whole natural habitat needed to be protected, not just rare species.

SOURCES: Enclosure map of Lordship of Oundle with Ashton (1810), Northamptonshire Record Office 2858. Map of estates belonging to William Walcot (1811), Northamptonshire Record Office 3703. Map of Ashton Estate by Messrs Hayward, Surveyors (1853), Northamptonshire Record Office 1728a. Catalogue of sale of Ashton Estate (1858), Northamptonshire Record Office ZB 706/24. Map accompanying Conveyance of Ashton Estate to Lionel Rothschild (1860), Northamptonshire Record Office 5173. Map of Ashton Wold (c1901), in Ashton Wold House. Ordnance Survey maps 1886, 1900, 1926. Rothschild, Miriam, The Rothschild Gardens (1996), 82-107, 169. 'The Hon. Nathaniel Rothschild', obituary in The Times, 15 October 1923. 'Dame Miriam Rothschild', obituary in The Guardian, 22 January 2005.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION Woodend Cottage is designated at Grade II, for the following principal reasons: * Group Value: It forms an integral part of an important and unusually intact Edwardian model estate, and has group value with the estate as a whole. * History: The house has special historic interest as part of an estate built and developed by members of the internationally important Rothschild family. In particular, it reflects principles of Charles Rothschild (d. 1923). * Architecture: It has special architectural interest due to the high quality of craftsmanship and materials, reflecting the funding of the estate by the Rothschild bank. Woodend Cottage is particularly notable for its exuberant roof form which demonstrates a masterly handling of materials.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

507388

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.