Florence House, Staunton-on-Wye

Summary

A cottage of C17 date with C19 and C20 additions and alterations.

Reasons for Designation

Florence House, Staunton-on-Wye, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* the building has a two-cell timber frame with wattle and daub infill which has a high degree of original survival;

* later additions and alterations are clearly differentiated from the core structure and have caused little damage to the timber frame.

Historic interest:

* the building forms part of a village which has several other examples of timber-framed buildings of a broadly similar type and date.

History

The building appears to be of C17 date with C19 and C20 alterations and additions. The Ordnance Survey maps published in 1887 and 1904 show an addition to the east side of the house where the current C20 bathroom block stands. The kitchen addition to the south gable end of the house appears to be entirely of the C20, although encompassing the earlier gable chimney stack.

Details

A cottage of C17 date with C19 and C20 additions and alterations.

MATERIALS: timber framed with sandstone rubble plinth, wattle and daub and brick infill and rendered brick walling and some clapboard covering to the northern gable. The southern gable stack is of rubble stone. The roof covering is of asbestos tiles on the western side and corrugated sheeting on the south and east, and was originally thatched. Timbers in the original part of the house are pit-sawn and pegged.

PLAN: a two-cell plan with a C20 kitchen addition to the southern gable end and a C20 bathroom addition to the eastern flank in place of a former addition.

EXTERIOR: the western (road) side has small framed walling above the rubble stone plinth. The framing is two cells in height with some disruption for doorways at the centre. To the right is a portion of small framing which is three cells in height by three in width and without a wall plate. This framing, which appears to be applied, corresponds to the added kitchen extension at the southern end. Windows are one and two-light C19 casements and there is a three-light dormer with catslide roof. The roof is gabled at the northern end and hipped at the south.

The north gable end has timber framing with 4X2 cells of small framing with a prominent central post which rises to meet the tie beam of the gable end. The gable truss has a king post and collar beam. Infill is of wattle and daub with occasional replacement with brick. Much of the surface render is eroded and was covered with clap-boarding in the C18 or C19, which has now been mostly removed. A single-storey outshut with walls and a catslide roof of corrugated sheeting abuts the lower body of this front.

The eastern flank has blank rendered walling to the kitchen extension at far left. To right of this is the original corner post and the wall plate which continues along the front. A two-light C20 casement is followed by the projecting, C20, single-storey bathroom extension, with rendered walling and shallow-pitched roof of corrugated sheeting. This has a door and two-light window to its east face.

The southern front has a central door flanked by two-light casements. A C20 canopy with corrugated plastic roof stands in front, supported by tubular metal posts.

INTERIOR: The plinth, ground sill and elements of the timber frame are apparent in both of the principal ground-floor rooms, and to the dividing wall. The kitchen extension at the south end was built around the rubble stone end stack, which has been rendered at its lower level. Timbers of the formerly-external gable end wall are evident.

At first floor level there are two ranks of purlins but common rafters are not visible behind boarding. The central truss has a heavy tie which has been cut to allow a central doorway between the rooms. The staircase has been removed.

The attic at the southern end is above the kitchen and beneath the hipped roof. Common rafters are visible here and of C20 date. The gable end timbers are visible, as is the wattle and daub infill. These are smoke blackened, but this appears to be the result of a former leak from the rubble-stone chimney stack which rises through this attic.

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 06/04/2020

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