No. 260 Hagley Road, Hasbury

Summary

A farm labourer's cottage of C18 date, later used as a nail maker's cottage, to which a nail shop was added in the C19.

Reasons for Designation

No. 260 Hagley Road, a former farm labourer's cottage of C18 date, extended with the addition of a nail shop in the C19, is listed in Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Architecture: it is believed to be Hasbury's last-known surviving vernacular building

* Industrial adaptation: it retains a C19 nail shop, a rare survival from the nail-making industry, which was once so prevalent in this area.

* Degree of survival: overall it survives relatively intact, retaining a significant proportion of C18 historic fabric.

History

Hasbury, up until the late C19, was predominantly an agricultural area, and it is believed that the cottage at No. 260 Hagley Road was built in the C18 as a farm labourer's cottage. Nail making originated in Halesowen and the surrounding hamlets, including Hasbury, during the C17. It was practised as a cottage industry, mainly being a part-time occupation along with farming, with the nails being made during the winter and in times of bad weather. At some time during the C19, before 1880 when it is recorded on the first edition Ordnance Survey map, a nail shop was added to the right gable end of the cottage. Also added to the cottage during the C19 were a kitchen to the rear and an outside wash house and water closet. It is believed that the hearth, anvil and tools were removed from the nail shop in the first half of the C20. For the past 20 years the cottage has stood empty, its windows and door partially blocked up. Its roof partially collapsed in the early C21.

Details

MATERIALS: the cottage is constructed from coursed, local sandstone with brick, gable-end stacks and a clay-tile roof. The nail shop is of brick with a tiled roof.

PLAN: the cottage is of a single-depth plan, being of two storeys in two bays, with a single-storey nail shop attached at the right gable end.

EXTERIOR: the entrance front, which faces south across a long, narrow garden fronting Hagley Road, is symmetrical, with a central doorway flanked by replacement casement windows. To the first floor there are a further two replacement casement windows. Attached to the right gable end is a single-storeyed, lean-to nail shop with a shuttered, unglazed window opening.
The rear elevation of the cottage is blind, the exception being a very small, square, unglazed opening with two metal bars. To the left-hand side there is a mid to late C19 single-storeyed, lean-to kitchen extension with a casement window and a re-used fielded and panelled door. The roof at the rear has now partially collapsed.

INTERIOR: internally, the cottage has a single room to the ground floor and two rooms to the first floor, possibly still retaining gas lighting. The nail shop has lost its hearth and anvil.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: to the rear of the cottage there is a small yard with a surface of blue engineering brick. At one side are the collapsed remains of a mid-late C19 wash house and water closet.

Sources

Websites
Black Country Muse: Hasbury's last nail maker's cottage and nailshop, accessed from http://www.blackcountrymuse.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=158398999

Other
Information supplied by the applicant,

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