Pond Cottage

Summary

Pond Cottage is a little-altered mid-C19 brick-built New Forest cottage with minor late-C19 and late-C20/early C21 alterations.

Reasons for Designation

Pond Cottage is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Intactness: its little-altered plan form, architectural character and interior details, mark the building as a rare survivor of this modest but once typical type of dwelling;
* Architectural interest: in its materials, plan, and detailing, the building is representative of a particular pattern of C18 and C19 domestic building which was commonly adopted in the New Forest;
* Historic interest: in its modest, slightly old-fashioned nature and distinctive setting, the building reflects the continuation of the smallholding tradition, which historically formed the core of New Forest economy and culture.

History

Early maps show a cottage orientated north-south on the Pond Cottage plot, just to the south of the existing cottage (which is not marked). A similar building footprint is indicated on the tithe map of 1841, but by the first Ordnance Survey map of 1869 (surveyed 1867), Pond Cottage has replaced the earlier building.

Documentation held at the county record office and the National Archives show a long association between the Pond Cottage site and the Salter family; several of the surrounding fields also appear to have been in their ownership. James Salter is identified as the occupier of the site in the late-C18, and his name appears in the list of commoners under the 1792 Battramsley tithing. The property formed part of the estate of Thomas Salter (a 'yeoman') at his death in 1837, and at some point between 1851 and 1855 the property was inherited by Ann Salter; it seems possible that it was at this time that the original cottage was rebuilt.

The cottage subsequently became part of the Boldre Grange estate, and is thought to have been the game keeper's cottage; a pheasantry was established to the east of the cottage garden. The 1897 OS map indicates a full-width lean-to to the south side of the house; now replaced with a slightly smaller lean-to. The privy to the south-west of the cottage first appears on the 1909 Ordnance survey map (surveyed 1907); the store to the south of the cottage post-dates the 1909 map.

Details

MATERIALS
The building is constructed of red and vitrified brick, with a slate roof and timber windows.

PLAN
The building is two-storeys high, double-fronted, and one room deep, with a continuous cat-slide roof across the rear over a single-storey kitchen and former store. From the central entrance lobby a stair runs up between the two principal rooms, which are heated by end stacks. To the rear is the kitchen (where there is a third tall stack) and bathroom. Upstairs there are two bedrooms over the principal rooms, and two further rooms beneath the cat-slide behind.

EXTERIOR
The front elevation is symmetrical, with a central six-panel door with rectangular fanlight, and ground and first-floor windows to either side. The door has undergone some alteration to the panels. The windows are six-over-six pane sliding sashes with exposed frames; the ground-floor windows are unweighted, without cords and pulleys and have shallow segmental arches formed of headers. The brickwork is laid in Flemish bond in a pattern of red stretchers and vitrified headers.

To the sides and rear the brickwork is laid in Sussex bond, and although red and vitrified bricks are used, there is no discernable pattern. The ground and first-floor rooms beneath the cat-slide are lit by a small number of irregularly sized and positioned side-hung casement windows. The kitchen window is a later timber casement. To the south is a mid- to late-C20 timber lean-to and open-sided store. To the rear is a plank door, surrounded by a later timber porch.

Detached from the cottage is a brick-built privy of c1900 and later store; both have clay tile roofs.

INTERIOR
The stair is an enclosed straight flight with a single wooden hand rail. The fireplaces to the right-hand principal room, and two bedrooms above, are typical C19 cast iron examples, that to the left-hand principal room is of early-C20 date; all retain simple timber surrounds and a mantel shelf. Throughout the house there are built-in cupboards next to the chimney breasts. Interior doors are generally unmoulded four-panel doors, with plank doors leading to and from the kitchen. A historic plank and batten door between the left-hand principal room and the lean-to store has been inserted recently, as evidenced by mechanically cut bricks around the opening.

In the kitchen there is an opening with a timber lintel for a small range, and a copper, both feed into the tall kitchen chimney stack. The kitchen and bathroom area are floored in red quarry tiles. In the bathroom area, adjacent to the kitchen, there are several large ceiling hooks, possibly dating from the building's phase as a game keeper's cottage.

FIXTURES AND FITTINGS
Throughout the principal rooms and bedrooms above, there is a consistent use of a particular moulding on window and door architraves, around the full-height built-in cupboards and fireplaces. The doors are hung on an assortment of butt, strap, and HL hinges (a hinge typically found from the late-C17 into the early C19, in which the flanges are fixed to the outer faces of the door and door frame; that attached to the door is formed in an L shape to give additional strength and rigidity. The hinge resembles the letter H and L combined.) There is an assortment of C19 handles, latches and locks, some of which are likely to be original, some of which date from the late-C19. These, together with some other fixtures, may reflect a phase of refitting when the cottage became part of the Boldre Grange estate.

End of official list entry

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