Description

OLNEY

1115/0/10002 HIGH STREET
14-JAN-09 67 AND 69
Thatched Cottage at Orchard House

GV II
Cottage, now garden feature; date unknown, probably C17 or C18. Stone rubble with brick dressings and some timber framing; thatched roof.

PLAN: Single-storey rectangular building with through passage under continuous thatched roof. A tall chimney is set into the west slope of the roof.

EXTERIOR: The north gable end has red brick dressings to quoins and openings, of which there are three: a small window under the apex of the roof, a large window with diamond leaded panes, and a door which give access to the room north of the passage. There is also a door to the south end in the south wall of the through passage. The through passage is arched and timber framed. The garden path from the back door passes through the passage.

INTERIOR: The north room is unplastered except for the south wall and arched ceiling. It contains a brick fireplace, and there are brick surrounds to the windows.

HISTORY: Orchard House was converted from two C18 houses, Nos. 67 and 69 High Street, in 1904 for Joseph William Mann, the boot and shoe manufacturer, at that time Olney's largest employer; the architect was Alexander Ellis Anderson.

The 1882 Ordnance Survey map shows Nos. 67 and 69 High Street, soon to become Orchard House, behind which are a complex of garden boundaries and a possible orchard; the Thatched Cottage appears to sit against the rear boundary of No.67 High Street, with a small section projecting into the neighbouring garden to the south, No. 65 High Street. Although the date of the cottage is not known, it is shown on the map in its present form. After the conversion of the two houses into one the gardens extended as far as West Street to the rear and were later landscaped by Perkin's Nurseries in Northampton, using the stone thatched cottage as an eye-catching feature. The red brick quoins and window surrounds in the north elevation suggest that it may have been restored or renovated by AE Anderson, echoing his extensions to the rear of Orchard House. The cottage has recently been re-thatched.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The Thatched Cottage at Orchard House is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* It is an C18 or earlier building later incorporated as a picturesque feature into the design of the garden of Orchard House, (Grade II*), with which it has group value.

Reasons for Listing

The Thatched Cottage at Orchard House has been designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* It is of special architectural and historical interest as an C18 or earlier building which was later incorporated as a picturesque feature into the design of the garden of Orchard House (listed at Grade II and recommended for upgrading to Grade II*), with which it has group value.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26672275

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

• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)