Broomhill Cottage

Summary

Estate cottage, probably built in the mid-C19, architect unknown.

Reasons for Designation

Broomhill Cottage, on the Antony estate, Cornwall is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* for its carefully-considered Picturesque Gothic composition using local red sandstone from the estate quarry;
* it substantially retains its historic plan form and reads well as a set-piece of domestic architecture;
* for the level of survival of internal fittings, particularly the joinery.

Historic interest:
* as part of the C19 development of the Antony estate, and a representation of the high-quality accommodation provided for workers.

Group value:
* within the Grade II* Registered landscape of Antony, and with the various listed buildings on the estate, including the Grade I listed Antony House.

History

The Carew family, originally from Pembrokeshire, acquired property at Antony through the marriage of Sir Nicholas Carew with Joan Courtenay in the early C15. The manor of East Antony was inherited in 1465 by Sir Nicholas' fourth son, Alexander. During the C16 the family held positions at Court and Sir Wymond Carew was Receiver-General to three of Henry VIII's queens. Richard Carew (1555-1620), an antiquary and scholar of considerable ability, published The Survey of Cornwall in 1602. After his death in 1620 the estate passed through the family with the baronetcy created in 1641. Sir William Carew (1689-1744) married Lady Anne Coventry, daughter and heiress of the fourth Earl of Coventry of Croome Court, Worcestershire, in 1714. Sir William began to remodel the gardens at Antony and, following the death of the Earl in 1719, began to build the present house. The estate passed through the next generation and a line of cousins, both of which were without issue, and so in 1772 Antony devolved to Reginald Pole (1753-1835), a descendent through the female line of Sir John Carew, who adopted the name Pole-Carew. Reginald Pole-Carew made improvements to the estate and pleasure grounds, and in 1792 commissioned Humphry Repton (1752-1818) to produce a Red Book. Repton's proposals were partly implemented, while Pole-Carew continued to develop the estate according to his own plan up to his death in 1835. The house and gardens were inherited by William Henry Pole-Carew in 1852, who commissioned the architect William White to design a private chapel at Maryfield for the Antony estate: the Church of St Philip & St James (1864-71). Sir Reginald Pole-Carew inherited in 1888, and recreated parterres and a walled garden to the north of the house, perhaps to the design of H Inigo Triggs (1876-1923). The Carew Pole name was adopted by Reginald’s son John, who inherited the estate and the baronetcy of Pole of Shute in 1924. Sir John and Lady Carew Pole developed the pleasure grounds at Antony, and in 1961 gave the house and 29 acres to the National Trust.

Little is known about the construction of Broomhill Cottage. However, a building with a cross-shaped footprint is shown in the position of the current cottage on the 1866 1:2500 Ordnance Survey (OS) map (surveyed in 1856). Additionally, the 1871 census records the estate-staff living in the grounds, including William Brackensall, a labourer, who was residing in the ‘Lodge in the Wood’. The 1894 survey shows the cottage with the footprint it has today, with the west extension comprising two sections, probably a coal store and privies. The plan remains the same into the early C20, although by 1952 the west extension is offset to the north. The extension has since been rebuilt, aligned almost centrally on the west elevation. The cottage was not part of the 1961 gift to the National Trust. In 2018/19 it was converted to a tea room and gallery.

Details

Estate cottage, probably built in the mid-C19, architect unknown.

MATERIALS: constructed of red sandstone rubble from the Pole-Carew’s quarry at Sheviock Wood, with ashlar dressings, and a Delabole slate roof. The rear extension is built from slatestone.

PLAN: cross-shaped in plan, orientated north-east to south-west, with a double-height bay on the south-east side, and C20 single-storey extension to the north-west.

EXTERIOR: Broomhill Cottage is located approximately 400m north-west of Antony House, and is positioned to the west of the main drive which connects the main house to the quay at Antony Passage on the River Lynher. It is set against the backdrop of Jupiter Plantation and the Forder Viaduct can also be seen to the north through the trees. Principal views from the cottage look to the parkland and Antony House itself.

The cottage is two storeys (the upper mainly in the attic), of rubble-stone construction with ashlar quoins and dressings to the window and door surrounds, under a pitched slate roof with deep eaves and a stone axial stack. The principal elevation faces south-east and comprises three bays. The entrance bay on the left has a stilted pointed-head archway with ashlar dressings and a timber-panelled door. The slightly-offset gabled central bay has a canted bay-window with a slate hipped-roof and four casements divided by stone mullions on the ground floor, and above is a two-light window with hoodmould. There is a further two-light window with hoodmould at ground-floor level to the right-hand bay. The south-west elevation has further two-light windows with hoodmoulds at ground and first-floor level, whilst the north-east elevation has one to the first floor only. On each of these elevations the gable eaves are slightly swept with exposed purlins. On the rear of the cottage there is a single-storey lean-to extension, slightly offset, with C20 windows with faux-lattice glazing and a central doorway. There is a small rooflight on the roofslope to the cottage.

INTERIOR: the entrance door leads to a small hallway with the former pantry beyond; the hallway and pantry share a two-light window split by their dividing wall. There are meat hooks to the pantry ceiling and the hallway has a red and black quarry-tile floor. To the right of the entrance a triangular-arch doorway with vertical-boarded timber door leads to the former dining room which has a canted bay window with deep reveals and a slate flagstone floor. On the north wall is a Rayburn within an inglenook fireplace with a heavy timber lintel above, and to its right is a recessed cupboard fitted with glazed double-doors, above a separate fitted cupboard with matchboard-timber doors. To the left of the inglenook and adjacent to the door to the former lounge is a single, scrolled console bracket at high level. On the east side of the former dining room a further triangular-arch doorway leads to the rear extension. The staircase is located on the west wall of the former dining room, opposite which is a triangular-arch doorway with timber door to the former lounge. This has one window with deep canted reveals on the east side, and has a boarded floor. On the south side is a fireplace with a slate hearth and a heavily-moulded stone fire-surround with console brackets; it is fitted with a modern wood-burning stove. To its left is a further set of fitted cupboards, with glazed doors above and timber-matchboard below. Moulded timber picture rails, and plain skirting boards and architraves survive in the principal rooms. The extension to the rear comprises a small kitchen and WCs; all fixtures and finishes are late C20.

The staircase to the first floor has a plain timber handrail with no baluster, leading to a small landing where there is a stick baluster and newel. From the landing triangular-arch doorways with vertical-boarded timber doors lead to three former bedrooms (now used a cafe seating, a gallery and store); the stud-partition wall and doorway to the central bedroom may be a later addition. The northern space has a two-light window within a deep reveal on the north side and a fireplace with a cast-iron grate and slate hearth to the south, to the right of which is a recessed cupboard (no door). The central bedroom, within the projecting bay, has an identical fireplace on its north side and a two-light window to the east. The southern bedroom has a fitted cupboard with full-height ledged timber door on the west side. The ceiling rafters in each of the spaces are exposed to the first purlin; the rafters are stop-chamfered. The rooms also have boarded floors throughout. The windows throughout the cottage are set within stone surrounds with stone mullions and have cast-iron lattice glazing bars; opening casements are cast-iron framed with wrought-iron catches.

Sources

Books and journals
Beacham, P, Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Cornwall, (2014), 98

Websites
Broomhill Cottage Tearoom, accessed 05/02/2021 from https://www.antonywoodlandgarden.com/vintage-tea-room/

Other
Ordnance Survey, Cornwall (1866; surveyed 1856) (1:2500)
Ordnance Survey, Cornwall (1894; surveyed 1892) (1:2500)
Ordnance Survey, Cornwall (1907) (1:2500)
Ordnance Survey, Cornwall (1914) (1:2500)
1871 Census return

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