Squalls Cottage

Summary

Cottage, C18, with later alterations and extensions.

Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the C20 porch and single-storey northern extension are not of special architectural or historic interest.

Reasons for Designation

Squalls Cottage is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* originating in a period where there is a presumption in favour of listing, the cottage retains a substantial proportion of the historic fabric from the first, and subsequent phases of building;
* the simple plan form of the building survives, and the evolution of the building can be understood from the surviving fabric;
* the cottage is locally distinctive, reflecting vernacular building traditions in terms of its form and materials.

History

Squalls Cottage is likely to have originated in the early C18 as a farm labourer’s dwelling. It appears to have been constructed as a two-bay cottage, later extended and converted to use as two dwellings. The 1887 Ordnance Survey map shows that by then it was in use as a pair of cottages, and by the time of the 1926 map, it had been extended further to the north. The sales particulars for part of the Wardour Castle Estate in 1946 show a longer linear range of buildings, detached on the north end, and for sale as two lots. Accommodation comprised two bedrooms, living room and pantry in each lot. The pair of cottages had been converted to a single dwelling by the time of the 1979 Ordnance Survey, and the structures to the north demolished.

In the late C20 the single-storey thatched extension was added to the north gable end, and the lean-to porch was built on the east elevation.

Details

Cottage, C18, with later alterations and extensions.

MATERIALS: constructed from roughly coursed Chilmark stone, with stone dressings, and with brick chimneystacks and a thatched roof.

PLAN: the building stands to the west of Squalls Lane. It has a linear plan form, orientated roughly north-south, with late-C20 extensions on the east and north elevations.

Internally it has two principal rooms with wide fireplaces at either gable end. To the south a stair, rebuilt, leads to the first floor. There is an extension to the north, and a porch extension to the east.

EXTERIOR: a vernacular building of a single storey with an attic, with a pitched, thatched roof and gable end stacks.

The principal elevation faces roughly east. There is a three-light window with chamfered stone mullions on the right, and a second window opening on the left. The central section of the ground-floor is obscured by wide porch extension, dating from the 1990s*. Within the porch the openings into the main elevation have been reconfigured, with one doorway blocked, and another turned into a window. At attic level there is a pair of dormers on the right, and a window opening on the left beneath the eaves. The gable ends have coped upstands with moulded kneelers, with internal stacks built in brick above the apex.

The rear, roughly west-facing elevation has three irregular windows to both storeys. Two of these are in historic dressed stone architraves: a two-light opening to the right, and a single-light casement to the centre. At attic-level are two dormers on the right, and to the left, an opening below the eaves. The differing size of the masonry at either end of the building suggests two phases of construction.

The northern extension, dating from the 1990s, is a single storey with a window opening on each elevation and a hipped, thatched roof*.

INTERIOR: entrance is into the southern half of the building, which has been subdivided to form a kitchen and WC. There is a wide fireplace on the south gable wall with a deep bressummer with taper marks, and a spine beam with concealed joists. The stair was reconstructed in the 1990s. The floor level steps down within the northern cell, which has a transverse bean with chamfers and ogee stops, and exposed joists to the ceiling. A wide fireplace has a brick bread oven and a deep bressummer. A hollow in the masonry to the north-east suggests the location of former a winder stair.

On the first floor the principal rafters of the roof structure are partially exposed; these are collar trusses with a purlin. Within the loft space there are coupled rafters, with no ridge piece. The timbers of the wall plates appear to have been cut to accommodate the dormer windows.

* Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the C20 porch and single-storey northern extension are not of special architectural or historic interest.

End of official list entry

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