Description

A pre-C18 farmhouse with attached C18/ early-C19 range and later-C19/ C20 alterations.

MATERIALS: Timber frame structure with infill panels of both early and later materials including brick. There is a rubble stone chimney. The later wings are constructed of red brick. The range to the east has timber ceiling beams above a local rubble stone cellar, reinforced in brick. Roofs are Welsh slate and fenestration is timber. The boundary wall is constructed of stone.

PLAN: A main single-depth range of two framed bays set east-west. To the north, east and south are a series of additional ranges. The principal entrance is to the north in a mid-C19 range that contains the hallway and stair and forms an L-Plan with an earlier-C19 or C18 single-depth gabled range oriented north-south There are two further ranges attached to the south and include a lobby, access into the earlier range, a rear stair and a rear scullery area. At the centre of the farmhouse is a large stone chimney with inglenook, and the main rooms of the house are arranged around it. A conservatory is attached to the rear of the buildings. At first floor and attic level the three ranges have differing floor heights.

EXTERIOR: The early range is two-storey plus attic and jettied on its north front, where there is an exposed moulded bressumer, wall plate and some studwork. The steeply-pitched gabled end to the west has exposed purlin ends and a window to each floor, all set to the right of the apex of the gable end. The elevations are a mixture of brick and render and there are applied C19 plaster quoins. To the right, and set back from the early range is a later two story wing, which is part slate hung with windows into the eaves and a door under a fishscale roofed porch. The attached wings to the north and east are of a dominant two-storey height, rendered elevations with distinctive regular openings with wide plaster architraves and quoins. The roofs and projecting porch to the north are slate covered with three principal red brick stacks. The south elevation is less ordered with three principal ranges running south at different heights, and a conservatory. The window frames are C19 timber sashes with slender pointed glazing bars.

INTERIOR: The west end of the building has the appearance of a working farm, with exposed substantial timbers with iron fixings, stonework and a large inglenook fireplace. There is a C19 bread oven in the rear range. The east end of the house and hallway are more formally domestic with centrally placed fireplaces, lathe and plaster walls and cleanly chamfered ceiling beams. Timber shutters remain in the ground floor principal rooms. There are C19 slate chimneypieces. In the earlier range there is a stone fireplace with ovolo moulding. There are some wide timber floorboards at first floor level. The attic spaces are part boarded, panelled and subdivided featuring substantial chamfered and stopped purlins and two king post trusses which are probably of C18 date. The cellar is stone built with some brick reinforcement and may form part of the foundations of an earlier structure on the site.

HISTORY: Weston Cotton House appears to have operated as the principal part of a farmstead since at least the C17. The core of the house is of pre-1700 date, extended and remodelled in the C18 and the mid-C19. The smaller, earlier building and large attached wing are shown on a tithe map of 1839, along with an associated barn, probably of C18 date. The Ordnance Survey Map of 1875 shows that the range to the south and a porch on the north elevation had been added by this time, probably during a remodelling which saw the introduction of the current internal layout and fittings of the house. The map also indicates that a planned landscape, including a footpath leading northwards, was also laid out by this time. The farmhouse is unoccupied.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION

Weston Cotton House, Shropshire is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Historical: Weston Cotton House originally dates from before 1700 and has a substantial range, probably pre-1840; both ranges retain a good proportion of their original historic fabric.
* Architectural: The building retains features of note including moulded, chamfered and stopped timbers, stone fireplaces and joinery that are good survivals of their types.
* Intactness: Despite C20 alterations, some of which are unsympathetic, the elements which give the buildings special architectural and historic interest, including its original layout, remain.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26472304

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.

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