Description

ECCHINSWELL & SYDMONTON HIGH STREET

Kewell Cottage

Shall be replaced by:-

HIGH STREET

SU5030860552 Woodpecker Cottage

18-MAY-1984

II

Cottage, C17 and C19, with C20 and C21 extensions and alterations.

MATERIALS: Timber-frame, tile roof.

PLAN: The historic cottage is rectangular in plan oriented N-S with a W entrance
elevation and E garden elevation. Ground floor: N entrance hall, central living room and S dining room. Modern additional rooms to the east. First floor: three W
bedrooms, N bathroom, corridor running along E side of house. SE master-bedroom an addition of 2009. Attached NE modern garage block not of special interest.

EXTERIOR: West elevation: box-frame of at least two phases: more substantial timbers to the C17 ground floor (particularly the posts, upbraces and what is now the girding beam); thin scantling of first floor is C19. Panels to both floors infilled with painted brick nogging. Off-centre porch with tiled lean-to canopy supported on reused timbers, central dormer and half-hipped tiled roof of late C20 date with off-centre chimney stack. All windows are modern metal casements. No visible timber-frame at ground floor level of S elevation. E elevation has been extended although the frame of the former rear (E) external wall survives at ground floor level, now an internal wall. Upper storey to E elevation all C20 stretcher bond brick.

INTERIOR: Hall and living room share a chimney stack with much modified fireplace:the bressumer is not original. Living room with axial beam and carpenter's marks
identifying the correct positions of the joists. Living and dining room open into
each other; their timber-framed E wall was formerly external. Blocked timber-mullion window visible in office W wall. office. All rooms beyond to the E are modern additions. Stairs used to rise from the hall but a modern flight now rises from the dining room. Hall ceiling has pine beams suggesting a late date. First floor: largely devoid of historic features apart from plank doors with iron latches of late C19 or early C20 date. Visible dividing wall between the two former cottages indicates the former N cottage had a single room to the ground floor with a fireplace in its S wall and opposing W and E doors. E wall to former S cottage is a consistent run of framing over two bays with a blocked rear (E) door to the centre. However, its W wall suggests that the end (S) bay is an addition as the scantling is less substantial and there are no exposed timbers to the S elevation at ground floor level. Internal division between the living and dining areas consists of re-used ex-situ timbers.

A-frame C19 and later trusses to roof with one rustic pole supporting the ridge pole although inspection restricted.

HISTORY: Woodpecker Cottage was formerly known as Kewell Cottage. It originated in the late C17 when the building consisted of a single-storey cottage or cottages, one room wide. In the C19 the roof was raised to accommodate a full first floor. The building is shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1873 as two cottages. The N cottage was L-shaped with a small extension, a presumed out-house, at its NE corner. The location of the access path as shown on the map indicates the front door is in the original position. The S cottage was also L-shaped with a presumed small out-house extension at its SE corner. By 1895, the NW corner of the N cottage had been infilled to form a rectangular, but still bi-partite, property. A well is marked to the E of the S cottage. By 1911 the rear (E) extension of the S cottage was remodelled as a narrow N-S extension. The cottages were unified sometime after this.

The house has also been modified in the C20. In 1974 a garden room was added to the NE. Circa 1980 the thatched roof was replaced by the present tiled roof. In 2009 a kitchen was added to the SE with a master bedroom above. An office was created on the ground floor in the space between this new extension and the sun room. All late C20 and early C21 alterations and extensions are not of special interest.

REASON FOR DESIGNATION:
Woodpecker Cottage, Ecchinswell, a timber-framed cottage of C17 origin, is designated
at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Date: a cottage built in two phases, in the C17 and C19, and thus a relatively
early survival nationally
* Fabric: a modest vernacular cottage which retains evidence of its two-phase
timber-frame.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26384797

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

• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover