Haven Cottage

Summary

Cottage and former outbuilding of the C17 and C19.

Reasons for Designation

Haven Cottage, a cottage and former outbuilding of the C17 and C19, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural Interest:

*  for the survival of a significant proportion of C17 fabric including a partial timber box frame, chamfered beams with run-out stops, a chimney stack and the majority of the roof structure;
  
*  the plan-form of the C17 cottage is legible, as is the evolution of the linear mid-C19 plan.
  
Historic Interest:
  
* for its part in the C17 development of Titchfield Haven by Henry, Earl of Southampton, achieved by the construction of a harbour and subsequent land drainage;

* as an illustration of the evolution of a C17 vernacular cottage into a larger C19 dwelling.

History

In the early C17, the Earl of Southampton ordered the development of Titchfield Haven by the construction of a sea wall, which formed a harbour. The area behind the sea lock was then drained for agriculture. An indenture from 1614, describes a dwelling in the location now occupied by Haven Cottage and its lease by Henry, Earl of Southampton to Richard Tamye of Titchfield. This refers to 'a small messuage, lately erected north of the haven’s mouth of Titchfield with a garden plot and barn there to belonging, a pond and a piece of beech-ground lately enclosed'.
 
An unidentified historic map thought to date from around 1750, shows a pictorial image of a single bay cottage and gardens. A 1693 chart of the Solent which appeared in Captain Grenville Collins’ ‘Great Britain’s Coasting Pilot’ appears to show buildings in the vicinity of Haven Cottage, entitled ‘Helhead’, adjacent to Titchfield Lake. Dwellings are again shown on a 1783 chart of this part of the Hampshire coast, between Calshot and Gilkicker Point.
 
Buildings are shown around the location of Haven Cottage on the 1-inch Ordnance Survey (OS) map of 1810, but the scale does not allow the prescence of the cottage to be confirmed. It is however, clearly displayed on the Tithe map of 1837 when it appears as two buildings (cottage and outbuilding) and is identified as in the ownership of H P Delme, and leased to George Leek.
 
The 1:2,500 OS series starting in 1868 show the building in greater detail, including the change to a single, larger footprint. It is probable that the cottage and possibly the outbuilding were present on the site from the C17, and that the two buildings were joined together by an extension to form Haven Cottage in the mid C19. The passageway to the rear may be C19 or C20.
 
Haven Cottage was purchased by Hampshire County Council in 1972 as part of the Titchfield Haven National Nature Reserve. It has also been referred to as Hill Head House or Hill Head Cottage and more recently Warden’s Cottage.

Details

Cottage and former outbuilding of the C17 and C19.
 
MATERIALS: partial timber frame to the north end, brick walls, some faced with roughcast render, multi-pane timber casement windows, all under clay-tiled roofs.
 
PLAN: the cottage faces west and has two main building phases; the earliest part is the C17 cottage, which was extended to the south in the C19, and connected to an earlier outbuilding. A rear passageway and second stairs were probably added in the C20.
 
EXTERIOR: the cottage has primarily, rough-cast render elevations under a steeply pitched clay tile roof. It comprises three bays to the ground floor; from the left-hand side, a tripartite casement window under a flat arch, and two, C20 tripartite casement windows under segmental arches. The attic storey has a C20 tripartite dormer window with gabled roof and a casement. The main roof is hipped with a gablet to the north end and half-hipped to the south. There are two brick chimney stacks; one within the hip at the northern end (partially obscuring the gablet), and the other is on the ridge. The single-storey former outbuilding to the south end is set-back. It has a C20 casement window under a flat arch and a gabled roof with an end ridge stack.
 
The rear (east elevation) is brick-built laid in English garden bond under a deep catslide roof. It has three bays of C20 casement windows and two gabled dormers to the attic level with C20 tripartite casement windows. At the southern end the former outbuilding is set-back. It has a C20, glazed entrance door, and a single C20 casement window. 
 
The north elevation (the original C17 cottage) is brick-built in an unknown bond and is of three bays. It has a timber-planked door to the west side which has a later, inserted glazed panel. To the centre there is a small casement window. At the eastern end there is a C20 entrance door.
 
The south side elevation of the cottage is formed of the gable-ended former outbuilding, which has an outshut and is faced in roughcast render.  
 
INTERIOR: the original two-storey cottage has a northern entrance, a vestibule and kitchen to the ground floor and a bedroom to the first floor, accessed by a winder stair. To the centre, the two-storey C19 extension has two rooms to the ground floor and two bedrooms to the first floor, which are accessed by a later staircase from the rear passage. The central bedroom is interconnected to the C17 cottage bedroom. To the south end there is an attached single-storey, former outbuilding (barn or smithy), which has a single room with shower room to the south end and an entrance to the east side. 
 
On the ground floor, the vestibule to the original C17 cottage has timber planked doors and the simple architraves are C17 in character. The ground floor room has a spine beam with run out stops, supported at the east end by a reused timber beam and block. The interior wall to the south was originally external. It has a pegged, timber box frame which stands on a plinth and consists of posts, a mid-rail and groundsill. The posts are scored with carpenters' marks. The panels have been infilled with brick, including a former opening to the west side, which appears to retain its C17 architrave. The fireplace to the northern end has been infilled, and the floor is concrete.  A winder staircase at the north-eastern corner of the room is probably in its original position and configuration. The bedroom above has a planked door to a small cupboard and is otherwise fitted with C20 cupboards. The roof structure consists of roughly squared rafters jointed at the apex and held by continuous purlins, just above the C20 ceiling level. Some C20 rafters have been added.
 
The C19 extension has two rooms to the ground floor, connected to a later rear passageway, by multi-pane C20 doors. The opening to the central example has a substantial lintel, with heavy scoring and an unused mortice joint. In the centre of the floor frame there is a spine beam with pyramid stops. Both of these timbers have probably been reused from the earlier part of the building. In the north wall to the western end, there is a blocked-up opening with a C17 architrave. The other room has a small, brick fireplace. The fixtures and fittings of both rooms are otherwise C20 and the floors are concrete. The two bedrooms above have C20 fitted cupboards and doors. Ceiling damage shows evidence of a lath and plaster construction. The straight stairs are probably C19. The former outbuilding has a small, brick-built fireplace and a concrete floor. The doors and fittings are C20.

Sources

Other
Tithe map of 1837, held at the Hampshire Records Office

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