Orchard Cottage

Summary

House, originating in the C17, with a C19 extension.

Reasons for Designation

Orchard Cottage, a C17 dwelling extended in the C19, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Architectural interest: a pre-1700 cottage of good-quality construction surviving largely intact, with features and materials suggesting a high status dwelling;
* Interiors: contain good-quality pegged ceilings, a number of historic doors with ironmongery, a C19 stair and the complete roof structure.

History

Orchard Cottage stands on a site which has been under occupation since the Roman period, and may be the site of the lost Manor of Southbury. A date stone, alleged to have been resited from elsewhere within Orchard Cottage, states ‘WM 1689’. Whilst the origins of the stone are unknown, a C17 date for the building is likely based on its historic fabric.

Orchard Cottage is a multi-phase building which originally appears to have been a three-bay cottage. An extension was made to the E end, and the Ordnance Survey maps published between 1878 and 1912 show the building as three cells, their proportions suggesting use as two separate dwellings. By 1975 it is shown as a single range, and Rowans, the dwelling attached on the N elevation, had been added.

A good collection of joinery survives internally, and alterations to the timber roof trusses illustrate its course of development. Within the loft space there is some lath and plaster surviving on the underside of the rafters, suggesting that it was once open. The stair is likely to date from the C19.

Details

House, originating in the C17, with a C19 extension.

MATERIALS: red and buff brick, roughly coursed and rubble limestone, with clay-tiled roofs, brick stacks, and timber or metal-framed windows.

PLAN: a linear plan with four bays of two storeys, orientated E-W.

EXTERIOR: the principal elevation faces S and is made up of two distinct sections: on the W the three bays of the original building, denoted by the chimneystacks, and on the right (E) the two-storey C19 extension. Windows and doorways to the earlier part of the building have red brick surrounds, with segmental arched brick lintels on the ground floor, and meeting the eaves on the first floor. The front door is a historic ledge and plank construction, with a glazed insertion; it sits beneath a timber porch with a tiled roof. Windows are irregularly sized and spaced with a variety of casements, many of which are modern replacements. There is a brick stack at the junction between the central section and the W extension (excluded from the listing), and the gable appears to have been built out around this in stone. The C19 extension to the E uses buff brick or dressed stone details, rather than red brick. It is a single bay and follows the line of the roof of the original building. A chimney emerges at the junction, external to the earlier building. It has a modern stable door.

The rear, N elevation is built mainly in roughly coursed rubble stone, without the brick enrichments found on the S. It has four irregularly sized and spaced windows, one of which has a segmental brick arch.

The sunroom to the E is modern, and has the 1689 date stone set in its plinth. The single-storey extension on the W dates from circa 1985. Both are excluded from the listing.

INTERIOR: there are two rooms to the ground floor of the original building, with a central stair between them. The front door opens into the room to the W, which has a thick, deeply chamfered spinal beam and axial joists with prominent carpenter’s marks. The end wall, containing the fireplace is in modern brick and has a historic timber inserted part-way up. A winder stair leads to the first floor. The room to the E also has a thick axial beam which is chamfered and has moulded stops; it is ceiled beneath the joists. There is a modern stone chimneypiece, lined in brick and with a reused timber forming a mantel shelf.

The E extension has a large hearth in modern materials. There are no notable historic features.

The stair is lit by a first-floor window, and has a recess to a blocked opening on the ground floor.

The roof of the earlier part of the building is supported on three queen post trusses. These are ceiled at the collar, and the central one infilled to create a partition between two main rooms; a modern partition has been inserted between the stair and the main bathroom. The tie beam of the central truss bears the scar of an inserted doorway; a modern doorway sits within a wider cut. The first-floor room of the E extension does not contain notable historic features. In the loft there is lath and plaster partitioning and partial covering to the rafters.

Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the sun room attached to the E and 1985 extension attached to the W are not of special architectural or historic interest.

End of official list entry

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