Description

DARTINGTON STAPLE
SX7861 - SX7961
Staple Cottage
13/154

GV II

Cottage. Circa early C16, reduced and remodelled in C17, probably divided
into 2 cottages in C19 and reunited in C20. Local limestone rubble; slate
hung right-hand (north east) end. Grouted scantle slate roof with gabled
ends and early crested ridge tiles; the rear slope has large graded slates.
Rendered chimney stacks slightly projecting from each gable end with
tapered tops and slate weathering.
Plan: 4¼ bays of an open hall house that was originally longer and
probably divided by low screens. it seems likely that the house originally
continued to the left because the left-hand roof bay is very narrow and may
be only part of a full bay. The house might have also extended further to
the right. The ground in front and to the left falls away, so the left end
is likely to have been the lower end of the house. In the C17 it was
reduced and floors inserted to form a 2 storey 2-room-plan cottage with
approximately equal size rooms heated from gable end stacks; the left-hand
room the kitchen with an oven to the left of the stack. The central
entrance doorway gives direct entry into the left-hand room, but it may
formerly have given access to a cross-passage leading to the central newel
stairs at the back which now rises from the left-hand room behind the
partition between the 2 rooms. if there were originally a cross-passage
the partition on the left side has been removed probably in the c19 when
the house seems to have been divided into 2 cottages; the right-hand
cottage had a doorway inserted immediately to the right of centre giving
direct entry into the right-hand room. In the C20 the right-hand doorway
was blocked and cottages reunited into one house. A curious feature of the
plan is the sprayed front left-hand corner which corresponds with the
splayed corner of the adjacent cottage 'Peters' which was built in the C17,
probably when the left end of the house was demolished; the 2 splayed
corners provide a passageway between the 2 buildings.
Exterior: 2 storeys. Nearly symmetrical 3-window range. First floor 3
small windows, the centre and left have C18 2-light casements with leaded
panes and shaped latch plates, the right-hand has C19 2-light casement
inserted into the old frame. The ground floor windows right and left are
in enlarged openings with segmental brick arches and later C19 or early C20
4-pane sashes. Doorway to left of centre has C20 glazed door and late C19
or early C 20 scantle slated canopy on large wooden braces. The doorway to
right of centre is blocked.
At the centre of the back a rectangular projecting stair turret over which
the main roof is carried down; the stair turret has a rectangular single
light window.
To the right of the stair turret a C20 shallow horizontal window.
Interior: the gable end fireplace in the left-hand room has a brick arch in
place of a lintel, and a corbelled stone oven in the left-hand side. The
left-hand room has a massive square-section cross-beam, the joists on one
side have been replaced and on the other side hidden by a plaster ceiling.
The partition on the right side of the former passage is plastered over but
the very large square section head-beam is exposed. The large chamfered
cross-beam in the right-hand room is unstopped unless the steps are buried
in the wall plaster or have been hacked off; the joists are concealed. The
fireplace in the gable end of the right-hand room has a renewed lintel.
Newel stairs rise from the left-hand room behind the partition between the
2 rooms, the stone steps have been replaced by wooden steps. On the first
floor the left-hand room has a partly blocked fireplace in the gable end.
Roof: all 4 trusses are entirely smoke-blackened, only the second from the
right has curved feet; the others are straight and seem to rest on the wall
plate unless they are jointed to short wall posts which are concealed. The
trusses have mortice apexes and mortices for the collars which have been
replaced with later dovetail lap-jointed collar. There are 4 tiers of
mortices for threaded purlins very closely spaced but only some of the
purlins survive; the diagonal ridge-piece is also threaded. The rafters
have been replaced. The truss second the left is closed by a later
plastered stud partition.

Listing NGR: SX7897061871

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26515617

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

• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)