The Wool House, attached outbuildings and garages, Arlington, Gloucestershire

Summary

The larger part of a former farmhouse, previously two and then three cottages, built in Cotswold vernacular style, dating from the early to mid-C17, with later-C17 additions, and a range of outbuildings including a former barn, well house and agricultural building, the latter now (2014) garaging. The flat-roofed C20 extension to the rear of the house is excluded. The interior partitions of the garages which form the southernmost element of the outbuildings, and their external doors, are also excluded, but the remainder, including the stone piers between each bay, is included.

Description

MATERIALS
Coursed and random rubble limestone; brick and rubble rebuilt and ashlar chimneys; stone slate roof.

PLAN
Single depth main range orientated roughly east-west, with outbuildings returning to left and right, and a later-C20 extension to the rear.

EXTERIOR
The main range has a central section of two storeys and attic, with two-storey ranges to east and west. The outbuildings form a short, two-storey and single storey rear wing at the east end, and a long range of single and two-storey outbuildings to the west end. The main elevation, to the north, has a full-gabled section to the right of centre with single-window fenestration, each with multi-paned timber casements. The central section has a three-light, recessed, chamfered, mullioned casement to the ground floor, and similar two-light windows to the upper floor and attic, all with hoodmoulds. The right corner of the gable is corbelled out above the lower, adjacent roof of the right-hand section. To the left of this bay, the entrance is set under a stone lintel, and houses a plank door. The large, slightly later two-storey addition to the left has two half gables and two-window fenestration; three-light C20 restored mullioned casements to ground floor, and two-light in each gable. There is a small, single stair-light to the right, with a hoodmould. The chimneys are ridge-mounted to each end of this eastern addition; that to the east gable end projects, with a corbelled stack. The section to the right has one half-gable with single-window casement fenestration. The eastern return wing is in two stages, the first of one-and-a-half storeys, with a timber casement to the ground-floor east side, and a west-facing half gable; the lower, single-storey second stage is blind to the east, and a partially open front, half-clad in weatherboard. The rear is irregular; the main range has a gabled half-dormer to centre, and a C20 roof light to the left end. There is a flat-roofed extension to the left of the rear of the main range, with C20 timber casements and door.

The long outbuilding range to the west is built on land rising away from the house. Closest to the house is a low single storey section with cellar under with a door to the left, the remainder obscured by the C20 flat-roofed extension; a tall rubble chimney with paired ashlar shafts and moulded caps stands at the junction with front range. Next, and set higher, is a possibly former domestic section, with a two-light upper-floor mullioned casement, and a ground-floor, off-centre doorway under a chamfered timber lintel. Adjacent, to the south, is a longer range with two large, low windows to the right, a former well house, and the left end formerly a barn, now a garage and workshop, with wide double doorway under a timber lintel to the right, and timber casement window to the left. Attached at the far southern end, slightly lower than the cartshed range, is a long, single-storey, six-bay range, probably originally an open-fronted shelter or implement shed, later a milking shed, dating from at least the first half of the C19, now in use as garaging. The main elevation, to the east, has dressed stone uprights between double plank doors in each of the five openings thus created, with a rubble-stone bay with dressed quoins to the far left. The rear of the garages range, of rubble stone with dressed quoins, is blind save for a doorway under a timber lintel to the far right.

INTERIOR
The main range houses the principal rooms, that in the eastern end having had its internal dividing wall removed. This room has exposed, chamfered transverse beams and fireplaces at either end, that to the eastern end with a moulded Tudor-arched limestone surround with stepped high, stepped stops; this fireplace, together with the other in the ground floor, was reportedly moved from the first floor of the building to the ground floor in the later C20. To the western end the fireplace has no surround; a winder stair rises to the north of the chimney breast. To the west, the central section has a very heavy exposed axial ceiling beam with chamfers and exposed, chamfered joists. The moulded limestone fireplace is roughly square. In the western end wall is a shallow, blocked opening under a timber lintel. A door to the right of the fireplace leads down to a cellar which runs under the present kitchen; stone built with segmental-arched roofs, various recesses and a small opening and chute to outside at ground level. The westernmost room has a transverse ceiling beam with deeper chamfers and stepped stops, and a dog-leg stair rising to the first floor. All three sections have different floor levels. The first-floor rooms have exposed, chamfered ceiling beams to match those in the respective ground-floor sections, one with a C17 plank and batten door on pintles. The kitchen is housed in the first single-storey section of the western range to the rear; its fireplace has a very shallow stone arch over, and the exposed roof structure is a C20 replacement.

Beyond the house, the first of the outbuildings is unimproved, and contains a large, rectangular tightly-jointed limestone tank (latterly used as part of the water supply for the farm), on a stone plinth. The roof trusses are formed from paired principal rafters with tie beams, and two rows of purlins. The former cartshed range has a similar roof structure. The roof of the garages range is formed from paired principal rafters with tie beams, threaded purlins and a ridge plank.

Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the interior partitions of the garages which form the southernmost element of the outbuildings, and their external doors, are not of special architectural or historic interest.

SOURCES
Arlington tithe map and apportionment, published 1840
Verey, D and Brooks, A: Buildings of England – Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds (1999), 173
Davie, WG and Dawber, EG: Old Cottages in the Cotswold District (1905), illus.

History

The building now known as The Wool House was constructed in two phases in the C17, with the attached outbuildings added at various dates between then and the early C19. All the buildings in the group, including the garages range, are shown in place on the tithe map for the area, published in 1840. The holding, which was then owned by Sir James Musgrave Bt, was described as a “homestead and buildings”; its tenant was Robert Lees. The main range was divided into two units by the late C19, and was sold as three cottages in 1919. The third cottage was extended and converted into a small house, known as Field Cottage (listed separately). It was extended to the rear in the 1960s: a flat-roofed extension (not included) was added in the re-entrant angle between the main range and the outbuildings.

Reasons for Listing

The Wool House, the larger part of a former farmhouse, dating from the early to mid-C17, with later-C17 additions, and a range of outbuildings including a former barn, well house and agricultural building, the latter converted to garaging, are listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

* Architectural interest: the house is a C17 building in Cotswold vernacular style, with neat details and a good level of survival, internally and externally; the evidence of its evolution adds to its claims to special interest;
* Historic interest: the house is related to a series of outbuildings of pre-1840 date, which illustrate the development of the complex;
* Grouping: the house and outbuildings form a coherent group.

External Links

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