Summary

A small late C18/ early C19 vernacular building, formerly a pair of one and one half bay cottages, now a single dwelling. Although the building has been enlarged, the original structure has suffered little significant alteration internally or externally and retains its original roof structure. The C20 extensions to the east are not of special interest.

Description

MATERIALS: The building is timber- framed in thin scantling, externally rendered with a roughcast finish. The hipped roof is covered in plain clay tiles, with a wide central brick chimney stack.

PLAN: The building is linear in form, and originated as a pair of one and one half bay lobby entrance cottages, now altered to form a single dwelling entered by means of the original east end doorway. The single-storey extensions to the east end and north facing side (rear) are not of special interest.

EXTERIOR: The building is of two storeys and three bays, each of the two former cottages with single ground floor and upper floor windows to the front (south) elevation. The windows have C20 two-light horizontal sash frames with single glazing bars. The end walls have two-light windows at first-floor level originally intended to light the stair head areas of the two cottages. These now have C20 metal window frames with glazing bars. The west doorway is now enclosed within a C20 gabled porch with a vertically-boarded door and plain barge boards. The rear elevation has a shallow single- storey extension with a single doorway, and a single and a two-light window, each with a C20 glazing bar frame.

INTERIOR: The building is entered via the original west cottage door, leading into a narrow lobby from which a narrow winder stair rises to the upper floor. The ground floor is now of open plan form, with a substantial brick base to the central chimney stack, containing back-to-back hearths below shallow brick arches. There is exposed slender wall framing, with straight down bracing extending from substantial central studs and above are slender ceiling joists carried on chamfered bridging beams with lambs' tongue stops. The upper-floor rooms are now served by a narrow rear corridor, the bedrooms with plain plank doors. One of the upper floor hearths is now blocked, but both chimney breasts are intact. The building has a pegged clasped collar-purlin roof structure, with some C20 rafters inserted above the originals when the roof covering was last re-laid.

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 25/10/2012

History

Woodhill Cottages are of late-C18 or early-C19 date. The building originally comprised a pair of small cottages, later adapted to form a single dwelling. In the late C20, the building was enlarged by the addition of extensions to the rear and right-hand end of the building. The interior layout, originally formed around central back-to-back hearths, consisted of a pair of one and a half bay units each with an entrance lobby and access to a winder stair contained within the half bay, and giving access to a single, ground- floor room. The adaptation to form a single dwelling involved the removal of the walling either side of the central hearths and the stair and stair lobby at the east end of the building. The additions at the east end of the building also necessitated the creation of an opening in the east-end wall.

Reasons for Listing

Woodhill Cottages in Sandon, dating from the late-C18 or early C19, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest. The house, formerly a pair of cottages, is an example of a late-C18 /early-C19 vernacular timber-framed building in which constructional and plan form detail survives in legible form.
* Rarity. Well-preserved survivals of modest domestic buildings which illustrate the social history of the rural working class are increasingly rare, particularly when they pre-date the development of standardised designs for houses characteristic of post 1840 development in both rural and urban communities.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26529617

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

• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5