9, Church Street, Eccleshall, Staffordshire

Summary

Mid-C19 cottage, extended in around 1983.

Description

SJ 8229
19/43

ECCLESHALL
CHURCH STREET (south side)
No 9

II
A mid-C19 cottage, extended in around 1983.

MATERIALS: red brick construction, with a polychromatic pattern of red stretchers and buff headers to the front (east) elevation and a dentilled brick eaves-cornice, replicated across the front of the 1983 extension. The roof is of Staffordshire blue tiles and there are red-brick stacks to the ends of the C19 cottage meaning that one stack is now axial.

PLAN: the cottage is two-storey and one-room deep, rectangular in plan, with the main entrance slightly off-centre between the ground floor windows of the C19 cottage. There is a further entrance on the south elevation into the extension.

EXTERIOR: the front elevation is of three bays, with sash windows to the ground and first floors; those to the extension and one to the bathroom have sliding top-lights and are 1983 additions. The other three sash windows on the front elevation appear to be mid-C19. There is a timber doorcase to the panelled front door; these may have been added in 1983. The south elevation is blind apart from an entrance door. The west elevation was historically blind, with the two first-floor windows inserted during the 1980s works; they are the same pattern as the two to the extension. All windows have stone wedge lintels and projecting cills; those to the 1980s windows are concrete. The north elevation is blind with a mid-C19 many-paned fixed casement at ground-floor level.

INTERIOR: the cottage is entered into the parlour, which has a modern fire-surround on the north wall. The staircase is located to the rear of the parlour, running behind the room which historically would have been the kitchen. This room has a small fireplace arch. The staircase appears to be in its historic position although all joinery dates to the 1980s. From the small landing there is a bedroom to the north and a bathroom on the front of the cottage; this was converted from the second bedroom in 1983. The extension has a kitchen on the ground floor and bedroom above.

Listing NGR: SJ8270329105

This list entry was subject to an Amendment on 22/02/2020

History

Eccleshall began as a small village that was granted the right to hold a market in 1153, gradually growing into a prosperous town in the C13; many of its inhabitants were craftsmen or engaged in agriculture. Being on the main road between the diocese of Chester, Lichfield and Coventry, a castle was built in 1200, and until the mid C19 was the residence for the Bishops of Lichfield. Into the C18 the town became an important stopping-point for coaches travelling on the London to Chester turnpike and the inns and taverns flourished. Leather working and shoemaking were the key industries in Eccleshall for almost 300 years, but had declined by the late C19 with the growth of mechanised shoe factories in nearby Stafford. The cottage on Church Street, directly opposite the Holy Trinity church (Grade I listed), was probably constructed as a modest worker’s cottage, and this is enhanced by evidence from the C19 census of the employment of Eccleshall’s residents.

The 1839 Tithe map shows that Church Street had a slightly different configuration, with some houses scattered along its southern side, to the west of a natural pond known as Sheep Pool or the Wash Pit. 9 Church Street is not shown on this map (or an 1822 map of turnpike roads) although the Tithe apportionment suggests that its location was the garden of a house occupied by Stephen Bentley positioned further back from and facing the road, on land owned by the Bishop of Lichfield. This house must have been demolished for the construction of 9 Church Street.

The first evidence for the cottage comes from the 1851 census, where Elizabeth Plant was recorded as living at 9 Church Street and ‘receiving parish relief’. It is first clearly shown on the 1880 Ordnance Survey (OS) map (1:2500) and again on the 1901 and 1924 editions. The maps clearly show a narrow building with a triangular plot of land to the east and a lane running to the west, opposite which two further small cottages are shown. The cottage appears to have a small outshut to the rear (south), which was probably a privy or coal house. The house is shown in early-C20 photographs of Eccleshall looking west down Church Street with the Wash Pit in the foreground. These show a two-storey double-fronted red-brick cottage with end stacks, many-paned sash windows and a doorcase to the front door. In a further photograph from around 1955 the cottage had not changed. By the time of the 1960-65 survey the cottage had an extension to the south right up to the rear boundary. In around 1983 this extension was replaced by a new two-storey extension, built in a style and materials that reflect the mid-C19 cottage. The interior was also renovated at this time.

Reasons for Listing

9 Church Street, Eccleshall is listed Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* as a good example of a modest mid-C19 worker’s cottage in Eccleshall;
* the cottage retains its historic character and this is reflected in the fabric of the building’s envelope;

Historic interest:
* as a reflection of the historic development of Eccleshall and as a contrast in domestic building types between High Street and Church Street;

Group value:
* with the Grade I-listed Holy Trinity church, and other structures in its vicinity which are listed Grade II.

External Links

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