Description

DOWN ST MARY DOWN ST MARY
SS 70 SW
2/173 Bushells Cottages
-
GV II

3 cottages. C17, possibly earlier core. Plastered cob on rubble footings; stone
rubble or cob stacks with C19 brick tops; corrugated iron roof over remains of
thatch.
2 right (east) 1-room cottages with rear lateral stacks and 2-room plan cottage to
left (west) with end store and main room with axial stack. 2 storeys. Irregular
4-window front of possibly C18 and C19 casements, many retaining remains of
rectangular panes of old leaded glass and others with glazing bars. Low gable
over first floor centre window. 2 right doorways are possibly C17 with chamfered
frames and plank doors hung on step hinges; one with possibly C18 graffiti. 2
left doorways are C19. Gable-ended roof was originally hipped each end.
Interior: right end room has pitched cobble floor, a roughly chamfered axial bean,
rubble fireplace with plain oak lintel and includes a rear Bideford cloam
oven with unusual 2-handled door. Centre right room has late C17 soffit-chamfered
and straight cut stopped crossbeam and scratch-moulded joists. Rear rubble
fireplace with plain soffit-chamfered oak lintel and inserted or replacement bread
oven of C19 brick. Left centre room modernised in C19 and its axial beam is now
boxed in and original fireplace hidden behind C19 chimney piece and grate. Store
at left end has roughly-chamfered axial beam. Roof where accessible comprises
probably late C17 A-frame trusses with pegged lap-jointed collars.
Cottages are completely unmodernised. They have been empty since circa 1960 but
were formerly occupied by the Bushell family of master carpenters and joiners. It
took 2 generations of the family to rebuild the rood screen in the nearby Church
of St Mary (q.v.).

Listing NGR: SS7422804413

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26551009

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

• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey