Description

SY 18 NE BRANSCOMBE BERRY HILL, Street

7/17 No 1 (The Rookeries) No 2 (Lower - Deems) and No 3 Lower Dean 22.2.55 GV II 3 cottages, formerly one house. Early - mid C16 with later C16 and C17 alterations, much altered in mid - late C19, presumably when subdivided to cottages. Plastered stone rubble, some exposed to rear, maybe some cob; stone rubble stacks topped with C20 brick; thatch roof. Plan and development: 3 adjoining small cottages in an L-plan building. The main block is built down the hillslope and faces north. No 1 is uphill at the right (west) end. It has a 2-room plan. The right end room is the largest and it is heated by a projecting gable-end stack. No 2 is downhill at the left (east) end. It is a 1-room plan cottage with a gable-end stack but also includes a small lobby between this room and No 1. No 3 occupies a rear block projecting at right angles behind No 2. It is a 1-room plan cottage with a gable-end stack. It is very difficult to work out the historic development of this building since much of the structural evidence is inaccessible or hidden or has been removed. Nevertheless the smoke-blackened roof of the main block indicates that the original house dates from the early - mid C16 and was some kind of open hall house which was heated by an open hearth fire. The sequence from the mid C16 - mid C17 by which the chimneystacks were inserted and the rooms progressively floored over is not clear. The heated room in No 1 is apparently an early - mid C17 parlour. No 3 was inaccessible at the time of survey but is said to have a large kitchen stack, probably also early - mid C17 What is missing is any evidence for a hall and passage. The stack in No 2 is C19. All 3 cottages are 2 storeys. Exterior: overall irregular 3-window front of C20 replacement casements with glazing bars, the first floor ones rising into the thatch. The front doorways of Nos 1 and 2 both contain C20 stable-type doors, that to No 1 is flanked by sloping buttresses. The doorway to No 3 is on the outer (east) side. It and the windows are also C20. Both roofs are gable-ended and the ridge of the main block is uneven. Interior: is largely the result of C19 and C20 modernisations which have apparently combined to hide much of the early structural fabric. Also only Nos 1 and 2 were available for inspection at the time of this survey. The parlour fireplace (No 1) is Beerstone rubble with an ovolo-moulded oak lintel. No ceiling beams show in the main block (Nos 1 and 2). The 3-bay main block roof is carried on 2 side-pegged jointed cruck trusses. Both are sooted from the original open hearth fire. The western one (between the 2 bedchambers of No 1) is filled with a late C16 - early C17 oak frame nogged with wattle-and-daub. There is some evidence that the partition between the main block and rear block is also oak-framed. The rear block (No 3) is said to contain a large kitchen fireplace. These cottages form part of an exceptionally attractive group of traditional thatch- roofed buildings which make up the hamlet of Street.

Listing NGR: SY1880288827

External Links

• Wikidata Q26398115

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Recommended Books

• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  For the Record
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)