1 Mill Cottages and boundary wall

Summary

A dwelling of pre-1850 date with an earlier core of probable early-C18 date.

Reasons for Designation

1 Mill Cottages, Winterbourne Gunner, Wiltshire is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a good surviving example of a flint and brick dwelling built in the vernacular traditions of the region which retains a proportion of probable C18 fabric;
* later alterations have not unduly diminished the legibility of its historic development and the two principal phases of construction.

Group value:

* with other listed buildings in the village, most notably nearby Winterbourne Gunner Mill and barn (Grade II), but also as part of the wider village scattered around the C12 Church of St Mary the Virgin (Grade I).

History

The cottage may have early-C18 origins, although no building is shown on the site on Andrews’ and Dury’s 1773 Map of Wiltshire. The L-plan building shown on the 1840 tithe map was under the ownership and occupation of Jane Wilson and comprised a house, garden and outbuildings. The building appears to have been rebuilt at both ends and modestly extended to the rear (south-west) by the time of the Ordnance Survey (OS) Map of 1877. By 1901, the OS shows the building broadly on its current footprint with the north-west end of the building truncated and set back from the property boundary. At this time the building divided into two dwellings, subsequently known as 1 and 2 Mill Cottages. A well is shown in the front garden of 2 Mill Cottages, and that this cottage appears to have been rebuilt in the later C20.

C20 and C21 works to 1 Mill Cottages have included the insertion of brick chimneys, new windows and staircase and re-laid floors to the ground floor. Brickwork to the south gable end indicates that the eaves level was raised in the C20. The cob garden wall to the side and rear of the cottage have had some repair and rebuilding in the C20 and C21.

Details

A dwelling of pre-1850 date with an earlier core of probable early-C18 date, with later alterations.

MATERIALS: built of brick with some oak framing and structure. The road front and south end have flint and brick banded courses. The roof is covered in thatched reed. The windows are C21 timber casements. There are timber plank doors to the interior. The stone flags to the ground floor are modern.

PLAN: a two-unit plan with a shallow full-width lean-to at the rear.

EXTERIOR: of single-storey plus attic, the cottage has a deeper rear roof slope. The flint and brick-banded roadside elevation is of a wide two bays with the door under a projecting tiled porch to the right. There are modern casements to each floor. The half timbering around the first-floor openings is set irregularly. The end elevation has regular brick and flint banding under a brick gable with central C20 brick end-stack. Additional brickwork to the right gable denotes the raised the eaves level. There are single-light openings to the left side of the elevation and the rear roof slope drops to a few metres above ground level.

The rear elevation has a shallow brick lean-to with part-replaced timber framing and a seven-course tiled roof set underneath the main thatched roof. Some sections of the brickwork have been rebuilt. There is an eyebrow dormer to the left of the roof slope, and a brick stack on the left end of the ridge.

INTERIOR: the front door leads to a small vestibule next to an inglenook fireplace that faces the principal ground-floor room. The fireplace has been re-lined in brick and there is a bressumer with chamfer and stops to each end. Behind the inglenook, a timber post with iron straps is in the back wall. Set in the inglenook at ceiling height is a chamfered oak beam with run-out stops to each end and attached joists. The south wall of the principal room is timber-framed with pegged small panels. To the right (south) is a door to a modern winder stair with a chamfered post to the doorway. To the left corner of the room is a door to the kitchen.

The kitchen has a chamfered ceiling beam running from the front of the building to the rear. Mortises in the beam indicate that it has been reused from elsewhere. The beam is supported by a chamfered post towards the south, and the south end has a scarfed addition. In the south-west corner of the room is a cupboard built under the stairs. The ground-floor rooms have C21 stone flags laid on top of under-floor heating.

The stairs to the first floor are behind the timber-framed wall that forms part of a pegged closed truss. A redundant brace mortise in the frame indicates that building frame formerly extended by a further bay to the south, which has since been replaced by the current kitchen bay. At the top of the stair are doors to the bathroom (right) and two bedrooms. The bathroom has an exposed reused oak purlin. The bedroom to the north has a stop-chamfered ceiling beam and exposed framing in the south wall below a dormer window. An additional ceiling beam next to the north wall has mortises to its soffit with cut tenons hanging loose. There is at least one purlin of substantial scantling in the roof, and the secondary timbers appear to be of C19 date.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: a cob wall with clay tile pitched roof extends along the south east and south west boundaries of the garden. It is approximately 2m in height.

Sources

Websites
Pastscape - Mill Cottages, accessed 23/11/2020 from https://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=526149&sort=4&search=all&criteria=winterbourne%20gunner&rational=q&recordsperpage=60#

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