Nos. 1-2 The Hollow, Mickleover, City of Derby

Summary

Two attached houses which form part of an evolved range of three buildings dating to the late C18 and early C19, with C14 and late C16 fabric incorporated into no.2 .

Description

Nos. 1 and 2 The Hollow, Mickleover are part of an evolved range of three dwellings dating to the late C18 and early C19. No.2 incorporates earlier fabric thought dated by dendrochronology to the late C14 and late C16. Both nos.1 and 2 have undergone further alteration in the late C20.

MATERIALS: red brick, rising from a shallow rendered plinth, and with a blue clay tile roof covering and brick ridge chimneys.

PLAN: linear arrangement of two attached dwellings, possibly on the footprint of, or adapted from earlier buildings, of which no.2 may retain significant components.

EXTERIOR: no.1 is a two-bay, two storey house with an off-centre doorway with pilastered doorcase and rectangular overlight set beneath a shallow gabled hood. Flanking the doorway are tripartite sash windows below shallow segmental-arched heads. Above are three first floor windows, their lintels below a dog-toothed eaves course. No.2 is of two bays and two storeys, with an off-centre doorway set within a plain pilastered doorcase and below a shallow cornice. Flanking the doorway and its six-panel door are three-light horizontal sliding sash frames with glazing bars, set beneath deep stone lintels. Above are eight over eight pane sash frames with stone lintels set at eaves level. The bricks in the upper floor walling are of a different size and are laid to a different bond to those below, indicating the extent to which the building was raised in the late C18 or early C19. At the left-hand end of the frontage is a straight joint with a small padstone at its base. The rear elevations of both houses have been altered. No.1 has a variety of C20 window and door frames, and a shallow flat-roofed two storey extension to the centre of the rear elevation. A section of the left-hand corner and parts of the return wall are formed with narrow bricks which appear earlier than the remaining areas of both front and rear elevations. No. 2 has a painted render coat, C20 joinery, and a single storey lean-to extension to the right-hand bay.

INTERIORS: the interior of No.1 has been largely remodelled, but retains a stick baluster stair with waisted finials to the newel posts and a cellar with a shallow vault formed from narrow bricks which appear to pre-date those of the exterior elevations. No 2 retains a chamfered and stopped spine beam and exposed joists to the right-hand bay and a recessed hearth set behind a short bressumer. The hearth surround has stone jambs with corbelled heads supporting a deep lintel. The hearth is a C20 insert. At first floor level are the exposed surviving sections of two roof trusses, the height of which corresponds to the earlier roof height indicated by the lower brick section of the front elevation. The most complete survival is the truss to the head of the central stair, formed from substantial principal rafters morticed into the surviving section of a tie beam. The principal rafters are trenched to accommodate now-removed single purlins and associated wind braces, and empty mortices in the inner faces of the principal rafters indicate the position of an original collar beam. The truss, described by the owners as incorporating cruck blades, was formerly closed and retains a single panel of wattle and daub. Its apex is trenched to receive a diagonally-set ridge purlin, removed when the roof was raised. The fragments of a second truss, including the head of a jowelled wall post , and sections of a diagonal brace, a tie beam and a principal rafter are exposed in the end wall of the same room.

History

Nos.1 and 2, The Hollow, Mickleover were first listed in February 1977 and are identified in the list description as dating to the early-mid C19 and the late C18. However, recent research carried out by the owners of No. 2 indicate that the buildings have much earlier origins, and that a sequence of remodelling and enlargement has resulted in the present external appearance of the buildings. Additionally, elements of the interior of No. 2, not seen when the building was listed, indicate that it was originally timber-framed, and that the early framed house was altered and/or enlarged in the late C16 or early C17. The external framing was replaced by red brick, and further alteration and enlargement appears to have occurred in the late C18, when No.2 was raised in height, and its exterior remodelled to incorporate a pilastered doorcase and stone heads and sills to window openings.

In the early-mid C19, a new attached dwelling, no.1 The Hollow appears to have been built, possibly replacing an earlier farm outbuilding or service building associated with No.2. The interior plan of the building and the existence of a brick-vaulted cellar suggest that some elements of the earlier building may have been retained as part of the new house. Late-C20 alterations and renovations to No.2 revealed the survival of parts of two early collar and tie beam roof trusses to the right-hand bay of the present house, including the upper part of a jowelled post supporting a section of tie beam. The C20 alterations included the extension of the existing kitchen at the rear of the house. In November 2011, dendrochronological sampling of timbers in No. 2 indicated that the principal rafters of the most complete of the two early roof trusses were formed from trees felled in 1334 and that the spine beam to the ground floor bay defined by the trusses was formed from a tree felled between 1597 and 1622. The dates suggest that the C14 timbers were most probably salvaged from an earlier structure and re-used in No.2, whilst the later timbers formed part of the late C16 or early C17 remodelling.

Reasons for Listing

Nos. 1-2 The Hollow, Mickleover, Derby are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: the buildings form part of an evolved range of dwellings, the external details of which record the development of the site between the C18 and the late C19, whilst interior fabric suggests earlier origins;
* Historic interest: No.2 retains earlier timber-framing dated by dendrochronological sampling to the C14 and the late C16 or early C17 providing evidence of a constructional sequence which begins with vernacular building traditions and ends at the era of mass-produced building materials and standardised structural form.

External Links

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