Summary
Range of cottages, late C18 or early C19.
Reasons for Designation
Nos 1-4 River Houses are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Regional materials: built partly of local sandstone with characteristic Sussex first floor tile-hanging over a timber frame.
* Specialist function: thought to have been built for local quarry workers.
* Plan form: unusually, the end cottage was built larger than the others, possibly for a foreman or overseer.
* Degree of intactness: the window openings are unaltered and the plank front doors are original despite the replacement of windows and the erection of some porches; internal survival of open fireplaces and plank doors.
History
Nos 1-4 River Houses are thought to have been constructed for local stone quarry workers. The properties appear on the First Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch map of 1874 named River Houses and divided into four separate cottages, No. 4 being wider than the others with a projection to the rear. The footprint does not change on subsequent editions except that on the Third Edition map of 1909 No. 4 has acquired a porch.
Details
MATERIALS: The ground floors are of sandstone rubble with handmade red brick quoins and the first floors are tile-hung, probably over a timber frame. The hipped roofs are tiled and have two square brick chimneystacks with moulded cornices, each shared by two cottages. The rear slope has a catslide roof to the ground floor.
End of official list entry
