Foxgloves

Summary

An early C19 cottage. The mid-C19 southern range and the C20 extensions and infill are not of special architectural or historic interest and excluded from the listing.

Reasons for Designation

Foxgloves, an early-C19 cottage, is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: a humble early-C19 vernacular cottage in which the historic development is legible and the proportion of survival good;
* Regional distinctiveness: incorporating building materials specific to the locality, and building methods reflective of the status of the dwelling;
* Historic interest: a rare survival of a building with a domestic and agricultural function, providing evidence of the early-C19 rural economy in the Aylesbury Vale.

History

Foxgloves is a vernacular cottage built in a number of phases, the earliest of which appears to have been the single, rubble stone, one-and-a-half storey northern cell with the internal chimneystack. The southern cell, built in wychert, may be coeval, or slightly later, and is likely to have been used for sheltering livestock, and that to the north, constructed from stone, was domestic accommodation. Entrance to the two cells was separate, on the east elevation. The date of construction of this first phase is probably between 1825 and 1834: the Ordnance Survey drawing of 1813 shows no buildings along the west side of Bowling Alley; Bryant’s Map of 1825 suggests one or two, and the Ordnance Survey Old Series of 1834 shows a number of cottages, one of them likely to be Foxgloves.

The small pitched extension to the north end post-dates the first phase of the building. It is possible that it was built at the time when the two cells of the building were connected internally, the doorway replacing a winder stair to the first floor room. The northern room provides little accommodation other than for the stair, which has a modern balustrade at the top. At the point of inspection many of the internal walls had been stripped, revealing a modified doorway in the north end of the first phase of the building, now serving an under-stair cupboard.

The Ordnance Survey map of 1880 shows a pair of buildings at right angles to the cottage on the south side of the plot. By the time of the publication of the 1899 map this had been reduced to a single range on the approximate footprint of the existing southern range. The original building (excluded from the listing) is likely to have served an agricultural purpose, possibly as pigsties, and now forms part of the existing domestic accommodation. Internal fittings suggest the conversion was made between the wars, and an infill lobby (excluded from the listing) linking the buildings is likely to date from the same period.

A lean-to tiled canopy above the front door has been removed, and other modern lean-tos (excluded from the listing) have been added to the rear. The thatch of the original building was replaced by concrete tile in the second half of the C20.

Details

An early C19 cottage.

MATERIALS: the northern cell of the cottage is constructed from rubble stone, and the southern from rubble stone and wychert. The northern C19 extension is also wychert. The cottage has a concrete-tiled roof and a brick chimneystack.

PLAN: the cottage stands on the west side of Bowling Alley and is orientated roughly north-south, in line with the road. It has two principal rooms, the northern one of which has an attic storey, and there is a C19 extension on the north end.

There is a southern range standing right-angles to the cottage, adjoined by C20 infill, and lean-tos on the west and north elevations. All these are excluded from the listing.

EXTERIOR: the walls of the cottage are rendered, their rough surface indicative of their construction material. The principal elevation faces east; on the right-hand side of the main range it has a ledge and brace plank door, with a pair of casement windows with a tiled cill to the immediate left. The left-hand part is obscured by the C20 infill building (excluded from the listing), within which the doorway to the southern room survives. There is a pair of casements on the first floor lighting the northern attic room, beneath the eaves to the pitched roof. The pitched extension to the north has a low, ground-floor window on the east, and a small, square casement in the attic of the northern gable end. The southern gable has an inserted tall, wide bay window. Windows are irregularly sized; most are metal casements in timber frames with diamond-leaded lights. The rear, western elevation is entirely obscured by a single-storey lean-to (excluded from the listing).

INTERIOR: the southern room of the original building is open to the roof, which has a ridge piece, thick purlins and a single collar beam, and irregular, rough rafters. There is a brick chimneystack built against the central dividing wall, served by the original stack, and the floor is suspended timber boarding. The northern room has a large inglenook on the central wall, a thick, roughly-hewn spinal beam, and a timber-boarded ceiling. The floor is quarry-tiled. A simple stair rises within the C19 northern extension, and the stair partition is a panelled unit with shelves. There is a low room above, which leads to the main attic room in the northern half of original cottage. The attic room had been ceiled at tie-beam level, though is now open to the roof. The roof, as in the southern room, has thick purlins, roughly-hewn rafters and wind braces, and there is much modern timber reinforcement. The north gable has some timber framing. A number of plank doors survive, though modern strap hinges suggest some have been repositioned. There is a variety of C19 and C20 ironmongery to the windows.


This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 06/06/2018

Sources

Other
Jeffery’s map of Buckinghamshire, 1770, held at the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies
Ordnance Surveyors Drawing 231, 1813, held at the British Library
Bryant’s map of Buckinghamshire, 1825, held at the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies
Original Series Ordnance Survey One Inch map, 1833-34
Ordnance Survey Six Inch maps for Buckinghamshire, 1880, and 1900
Oving Tithe Map, 1846, held at the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies

End of official list entry

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