Summary
Cottage. Built in about the late C18 or early C19 with a rear catslide outshot. A north extension was added in around the 1900s, rebuilt in 1977. Rebuilding works to the roof and replacement of doors and windows were also carried out in the C20.
Reasons for Designation
Hope Cottage, built in about the late C18 or early C19 at Ironsbottom, Sidlow, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Historic interest:
* as part of a model and very rare example of a surviving estate outfarm, dating from around the early C18, which included a threshing barn, shelter shed and this later farm workers’ cottage;
* as an estate farm workers’ cottage dating to the Agricultural Revolution of the later C18 and earlier C19, internationally reckoned the most important period of farm building development in England.
Architectural interest:
* as a late C18 or early C19 estate farm workers’ cottage;
* for the polite architectural treatment with a façade featuring a doorcase with fluted pilasters, fanlight and (blocked) oeil-de-boeuf window, probably as a ‘show front’ and mark of status for the estate, which contrasts with the plain windowless rear elevation of the main range;
* for the internal plan form, which remains highly legible, and the timber framing to the central staircase bay, the inglenook fireplace and bread oven.
Group value
* part of an important group of historic buildings forming an estate outfarm that also shares group value with the other historic agricultural buildings of the Bures Manor Estate, including a Grade II-listed barn.
History
The small complex of buildings at Hope Cottage appears to have originated as an outfarm, including a threshing barn, shelter shed and farm workers’ cottage, attached to the Bures Manor Estate. John de Bures was granted land in the area in 1259 (Malden 1911). De Bures family land was seized by the baron of the King’s Exchequer in 1487, and then passed through several hands before coming into the ownership of the Charrington family from 1622, to which it still (in 2023) remains over 400 years later (ibid); Bures Manor (previously called Bures Farm) being 1km west-north-west of Hope Cottage. An outfarm appears to be shown in the location of Hope Cottage on John Rocque’s small scale map of Surrey of 1768. The map is not completely clear but possibly shows the present barn on the site, which was built in around the early C18. The farm workers’ cottage appears to have been added in about the late C18 or early C19. There are three dots in this location on Greenwood’s Map of Surrey, based on a survey undertaken in 1822 to 1823, which indicates that the cottage was in place by this time. The 1846 tithe map shows the barn and cottage as well as three other buildings forming part of the property. It is labelled as ‘Waterlands housestead and garden’ and the adjacent fields are named ‘Waterlands barn field’ and ‘Waterlands barn meadows’. The cottage is depicted with an outshot extending from the north end of the rear (west) elevation, as indicated by the L-shaped footprint on the map. The tithe apportionments record that the owner was Harriet Charrington and the occupier was John Lee in 1846. The 1870 OS map (1:2500) shows a detailed depiction of the property, including the cottage with outshut, barn and shelter shed, and two small outbuildings. A similar depiction is shown on the 1897 OS map but by the time the 1913 OS map was published a small additional extension had been added to the north elevation of the cottage. The north extension was rebuilt in about 1977 to extend right across the elevation, providing a cloakroom, study and utility room.
Details
Cottage. Built in about the late C18 or early C19 with a rear catslide outshot. A north extension was added in around the 1900s, rebuilt in 1977. Rebuilding works to the roof and replacement of doors and windows were also carried out in the C20.
MATERIALS: red brick laid in Flemish bond to the front elevation and Flemish garden wall bond to the rear elevation. Red clay cambered peg tile roof coverings.
PLAN: a two-up-and-two-down cottage with a rear catslide outshot and later north extension.
EXTERIOR: a two-storey gabled cottage, three bays wide and two bays deep with a rear catslide outshot and a single-storey north extension. The west front has a central entrance door beneath a blocked oeil-de-boeuf window to the central bay and casements windows to each floor of the flanking bays. The casements are of three lights, each further divided into six panes. There is a two-light casement window to the west elevation of the north extension. The front doorcase has reeded pilasters, partially covered by later timberwork, and a fanlight containing replacement glass. There is a C20 boarded door with an upper window. The cottage has a red tiled roof with deep overhanging eaves. A substantial chimney stack is set against the south gable end. The rear elevation is blind (without any openings) to the main range but has three windows to the catslide outshot which has been extended to the north under a hipped tiled roof. The windows comprise a two-light casement, each light of four panes, and two fixed and top-hung windows. The north elevation has single-light and three-light casement windows flanking a half-glazed door to the 1977 single-storey extension and two windows to the main range. Metal tie-plates are visible to the gable on this side of the cottage.
INTERIOR: the main doorway leads into a small entrance vestibule; originally it would probably have led directly onto a straight-flight staircase but this was partitioned off in the C20 and the lower portion of the staircase altered as a winder stairs accessed from the north. The staircase is otherwise partitioned off from the flanking rooms by light timber-framing, including some later replacement timbers. There is a dining room at the north and a lounge at the south. The lounge contains an inglenook fireplace with a bressummer beam and original bread oven. The former rear outshot is entered via a boarded door and contains a kitchen with late C20 and/or early C21 fixtures* and fittings*. A corridor leads through past a larder, a bathroom with late C20 and/or early C21 sanitary ware*, a utility room and a study with late C20 and/or early C21 fixtures* and fittings*. There are two bedrooms and a bathroom to the first floor largely with late C20 and/or early C21 fixtures* and fittings* and sanitary ware*, although there may be some historic doors. The cottage has a clasped purlin roof with queen struts next to each gable end and a ridge board at the apex. The roof has a number of replacement machine-cut timbers, especially to the rafters, indicating that it has been rebuilt albeit reusing some of the original timbers such as struts and repositioned purlins.
EXCLUSIONS
* Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that these aforementioned structures and/or features are not of special architectural or historic interest. However, any works to these structures and/or features which have the potential to affect the character of the listed building as a building of special architectural or historic interest may still require Listed Building Consent (LBC) and this is a matter for the Local Planning Authority (LPA) to determine.
