Description

SY 09 SW AYLESBEARE AYLESBEARE

3/15 Truants and Truants Cottage
-

GV II

2 adjoining cottages. 2 phases of C18 work; both modernised between 1970-80.
Plastered cob on rubble footings; brick stack topped with C20 brick; thatch roof and
interlocking tile to Truants outshot.
The present building apparently derives from a 2-room plan house facing west with
front lobby entrance (now the front door to Truants Cottage) and axial stack serving
back-to-back fireplaces. Later in the C18 a third unheated room was added on the
left (northern) end. In the late C18 or early C19 another unheated room was added
on the right (south) end with a single storey outshot on the end of that. The house
was divided into 2 cottages probably in the C19 with Truants right of the stack and
Truants Cottage left of the stack. Truants was much modernised circa 1972 when
internal floor levels were altered and all except the rear wall of the outshot was
replaced. Also the outshot was extended to the rear. Truants Cottage was
modernised circa 1980 but here most features are preserved in situ. At the same
time a single storey kitchen was added to rear of the left room. Both are 2
storeys.
Main block has overall regular but not symmetrical 5-window front. Truants Cottage
has a 2-window front of C19 and C20 replacement casements, these more or less in
their original positions. The front doorway to right is a C19 4-panel door with
contemporary flat-hood on shaped brackets. The 3-window front of Truants are all
circa 1972 casements with glazing bars and those on the first floor are half dormers
with the thatch lifted over the top. The front doorway was inserted when the house
was divided and now contains a circa 1972 door and contemporary thatch-roofed hood.
The outshot has another 2 similar circa 1972 casements. Main roof is half-hipped to
left and gabled to right. The outshot is also gable-ended.
Interior. In Truants the first floor level was raised circa 1972 although in the
original heated room the early C18 axial beam (soffit-chamfered with straight cut
stops on one end) was reused. The fireplace has a roughly soffit-chamfered oak
lintel. Elsewhere only features of circa 1972 renovation show except an ancient
plank door which was retained through the rear wall of the outshot. The roof is
inaccessible but the feet of probably original A-frame trusses show. In Truants
Cottage the heated room has its axial beam in situ; also soffit-chamfered with
straight cut stops one end. Here the brick fireplace is exposed and it too has a
roughly soffit-chamfered oak lintel. The cob crosswall between the heated and
unheated room has 2 large round-headed shallow alcoves on the unheated side. Their
date and function are unknown. The outer room shows plain carpentry detail. There
is a tradition that this was once a smithy. The roof clearly shows the 2 building
phases. The inner (heated) room roof is carried on an A-frame truss with pegged
lap-jointed collar and X-apex and a hip arrangement over the former end wall (now
the internal crosswall). Another truss of identical construction carries the roof
to the present end wall.

Listing NGR: SY0387091928

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26434202

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

• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]