Description

TQ 64 SW CAPEL SYCHEM LANE, FIVE OAK GREEN

5/284 Brook Cottage

GV II

Small farmhouse. Early/mid C17, extensively modernised circa 1949 after bomb-
shock damage in the Second World War, some circa 1980 modernisations. Timber-
framed on brick footings and clad with peg-tile above first floor level, brick
stack and chimneyshaft; peg-tile roof.

Plan: 2-room lobby entrance plan house facing north west. The left (north
eastern) room was probably the kitchen and the right one the hall. Stairs
rise in a turret projecting to rear of the stack. Rear service blocks were
new built or much altered circa 1949 although there does seem to have been an
original unheated room to rear of the parlour, maybe a buttery or dairy.

Main block is 2 storeys with attics in the roofspace with 2-storey and single
storey ancillary blocks to rear.

Exterior: The framing is close studded. Essentially symmetrical front with 2
ground floor windows and 4 windows on the first floor, all C20 windows with
ovolo-moulded mullions, iron casements and diamond panes of leaded glass.
(There are similar windows around the rest of the main block). The windows
reuse some old glass, some of the panes tinged green. In places the
disposition of the windows has been altered. For instance there is evidence
on the front frame for 4 original ground floor windows. Central doorway has
original oak frame with richly-moulded surround and contains a C20 Tudor-style
door with coverstrips and ornate strap hinges. Gabled timber-framed porch is
C20 but includes some reused timbers and side windows have grilles of turned
balusters. There is a similar smaller version to rear of the left end wall.
Main roof is tall and steeply pitched and is half-hipped both ends. The stair
turret also has a half-hipped roof. It is flanked by flat-roofed extensions
and behind that a Victorian animal house has been brought into domestic use.

Interior: The supposed kitchen has an ovolo-moulded axial beam with bar-
scroll stops and a large brick fireplace with plain oak lintel. By contrast
the parlour has a chamfered and scroll-stopped crossbeam and a sandstone
ashlar fireplace, a Tudor arch with moulded surround and sunk spandrels. Both
first floor chambers have chamfered axial beams with scroll stops with
renovated brick fireplaces with plain oak lintels. Where the framing is
exposed at first floor level it is large framing with curving tension braces.
Roof of 3 uneven bays, tie-beam trusses with clasped side purlins. The stair
has been refurbished. It has square newel posts with teardrop finials and
turned balusters. The evidence of a small original room behind the parlour
comes from the 4-panel intersecting beam ceiling there.

It is clear that the house was extensively and expensively renovated to high
standard circa 1949 and that some material was introduced then, e.g. oak small-
field panelling in the main rooms and lobby, the Delft tiles in the parlour
fireplace and the Tudor-style doors with good ornate strap hinges.

Listing NGR: TQ6454144718

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26545230

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version