Summary
Cottage, probably originating as a timber-framed hall house in the C15. First floor and central stack inserted, probably in the C17. Largely re-clad in brick in late C18 or early C19. C19 and C20 outshuts added.
Reasons for Designation
Jasmin Cottage, Church Street, Crondall, probably originating in the C15, remodelled in the C17 and re-clad in the late-C18, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* the structure of the medieval hall house is clearly legible with the original timber frame and roof largely intact, as are the floor frames and chimneystack from the C17 phase of development.
Historical interest:
* for its medieval origins and subsequent phases of its evolution which demonstrate the development of vernacular building traditions and modes of domestic occupation.
Group value:
* with a number of nearby Grade II listed buildings including The Dormers, which, along with a large number of other buildings in Crondall, also has C15 origins.
History
Jasmin Cottage is likely to have been built in the C15 as a timber-framed hall house of four bays. Evidence of this is provided by smoke blackened roof timbers and wattle and daub panels. Truncated tie beams point to the later insertion of a first floor when a central brick chimney stack was added, probably in the C17. The building was faced in brick, with the exception of part of the north elevation, possibly in the late C18 or early C19 with a small outshot at the north-west corner added (largely rebuilt in the C20) and four dormers inserted into the southern roof slope. Other outshuts were added on the north and east sides of the house, and are shown on the 1871, and more clearly on the 1896, Ordnance Survey maps.
The eastern outshut, which extended along the whole of elevation, was taken down at some point between 1911 and 1979 although the sloping northern wall was incorporated in a new smaller outshut to the northern part of the elevation. The main roof was probably re-tiled at this time.
It stands in the core of the historic village and is referenced in the Conservation Area Appraisal as one of 23 houses of C15 date that survive (p 14).
Details
Cottage, probably originating as a timber-framed hall house in the C15. First floor and central stack inserted, probably in the C17. Largely re-clad in brick in late C18 or early C19. C19 and C20 outshuts added.
MATERIALS: timber frame with later red brick re-facing. Flint and clunch lower walls of the north-west extension. Rendering to the upper storey of the west elevation and central section of the north elevation. Brick chimney stacks. Brick, sandstone, flint and clunch cellar. Clay tile roofs.
PLAN: rectangular in plan, internally of four bays, orientated east-west at right angles to Church Street. One-and-a-half storeys with a low cellar at the west end. With the medieval hall formerly occupying the central bays, the C15 plan with two service rooms at the west end of the building is preserved on the ground floor, with the northern half of the wall dividing the western bay from the central bays and the spine wall dividing the two service rooms remaining. The southern half of the wall has been lost but is marked by a beam. There is a central, double-flue chimney stack with a modern stair to the north. To the west it the smoke blackened roof and wattle and daub panel denote the former open hall. There are secondary chimneys at the east end of the south wall and west end of the north wall. There are two single-storey outshuts on the north side of the building and one at the east end. The entrance is on the south side with a C20 porch. The upper floor has a room to each bay with a landing on the north side.
EXTERIOR: the building consists of a long narrow range with a half-hipped gable at the west end and straight gable at the east. The walling is of red brick laid in various bonds. The principal, south, elevation is of Flemish bond. The west elevation, onto Church Street is in English bond with a plinth. The brickwork extends to the top of the ground floor window, apart from a narrow full-height section on the south-west corner. The rest of the gable end is rendered, probably over wattle and daub. On the east elevation the exposed timber frame is infilled with differing bonds, including stretcher bond at the apex of the gable. Some of the timber frame on this elevation is probably of C20 date and some minor members of the original frame were lost with the insertion of C20 windows. On the north elevation the timber framing is also exposed with rendered panels of brick, or wattle and daub.
Fenestration is generally of C20 timber casements with multi-pane leaded glazing. The south elevation has four windows on the ground floor. Three of these are set in round- arched openings with brick voussoirs and tile sills with the other, western, window in a square-headed opening. The centrally placed entrance has a C20 plank door with moulded fillets and a C20 gabled porch with tile roof, hanging tiles to the gable, low brick side walls and timber posts. The first floor has four gabled dormers with stretcher bond brick gables and rendered sides. The west elevation has a centrally placed replacement modern uPVC window on the ground floor and another to the outshut. A triple timber casement window was inserted at the top of the gable in the C20. The east elevation has a C20 French door with a paired, double-height, timber casement and small casement window to the first floor, also probably of C20 date.
The single-storey outshut to the north-west corner is of brick of several periods, with a catslide roof and side entrance. It has a uPVC window on the west elevation. The other northern extension is rendered with a sloping tiled roof and entrance in the western return. The eastern outshut is of modern brick in stretcher bond apart from the higher northern abutment wall, topped with a tile capping, which is probably of C19 date.
INTERIOR: much of the timber frame is exposed internally. On the ground floor the cross beam defining the western bay survives although that to the eastern bay appears to have been replaced with a modern beam. Most of the axial ceiling joists survive intact as do some of the posts and the timber framing around the central fireplace, including both bressumers. The fireplace itself has been altered by the insertion on C20 brick fireplaces on either side, but given the scale and form the original structure may remain essentially intact beneath C20 plasterwork. Other elements of the framing including posts and braces survive in the north wall. Joinery and doors are of C20 date.
On the upper floor, the roof trusses are evident and are of queen post form. The tie beams, apart from that in the west gable, have been cut through to provide head room as was often the case when a floor was added. Otherwise queen posts, collars, arch braces, wind braces in the roof slope and wall plates are all in evidence. The wall plate on the south elevation has been cut through to incorporate the dormer windows. Some of the rafters have been replaced with machine-sawn softwood but others are original and show signs of smoke blackening, in the only area accessible, to the west of the chimney, where there is also a smoke-blackened wattle and daub panel forming a closed truss. There is some modern plasterwork but most of the finishes are of lathe and plaster. Again the joinery and doors are of C20 date.
The cellar occupies the western bay and is accessed by a trapdoor at its southern end. It has walling of modern and historic brick, sandstone, flint and clunch. The lower stone courses of the western wall are of a greater thickness than the walling above.
