Summary

Cottage, formerly subdivided into two cottages. C18 with a mid-C19 lean-to extension to the north-east and circa 1980s rear extension.

Description

Cottage, formerly subdivided into two cottages. C18 with a mid-C19 lean-to extension to the north-east. The circa 1980s rear extension is not of special interest.

MATERIALS: timber-framed and clad in weatherboarding with a gabled tiled roof with an off-central moulded brick chimneystack. Some stretcher bond brickwork to the base of the north-east and south-east sides.

PLAN: two storeys, three windows. The original part comprised two rooms on the ground floor and three on the first, but a partition was later removed on the first floor. The later C20 rear extension contains the staircase and bathroom.

EXTERIOR: the north-west or entrance front has three mid-C20 casement windows and a half-glazed door to the east end under a penticed porch. The south-west end has a tripartite casement window in the gable end and a large casement window to the ground floor. The north-east end has no windows in the lean-to extension but a C20 casement window in the rear flat-roofed extension. The south-east side has a two storey flat-roofed extension with two uPVC casement windows.

INTERIOR: the entrance leads directly into the northeastern room, the kitchen, which has exposed original softwood ceiling beams, which were originally covered. There are C20 applied beams to the wall frame, and the ground floor original north-east end wall, removed for the lean-to extension, is supported on square wooden piers. The original fireplace has been removed. The south-eastern ground floor living room has C20 ceiling beams and a brick C20 fireplace in stretcher bond with a wooden shelf. Access to the upper floor is through the 1980s rear extension which contains a straight flight staircase of traditional type with moulded balusters and a column newel post with a ball finial. The first-floor landing has three four-panelled C19 doors. Wallplates are visible in the two bedrooms and thin purlins are visible in the south eastern bedroom. The roof retains a few original rafters but consists mainly of C20 softwood rafters with a ridge-piece and a steel A frame.

History

The building probably dates from the late C18 but an extension to the north-east was probably added in the mid-C19 and appears to have been constructed by the date of the First Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1874. On this map the building appears with a rectangular footprint divided into two cottages with a small outbuilding, probably privies, situated to the south. There is no change shown on the Second Edition map of 1898, but by the Third Edition map of 1909 a large outbuilding has been built to the south and a smaller one to the south west of the cottages. By the 1929 Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map the building is no longer shown divided into two cottages.

In 1973 there was a planning application (RR/73//1240) for demolition but instead the house was modernised. A photograph thought to date from the 1970s shows that at that time there was no doorcase in the entrance front to Cackle Street but, apart from the insertion of a doorcase to the west of the existing window, the windows on this side seem similar to the present day. A flat-roofed two storey rear extension is not shown on historic maps and is thought to have been constructed in the 1980s.

Reasons for Listing

Culpeper Cottage, a late C18 timber-framed and weather-boarded cottage with a small mid C19 lean-to extension, refurbished and extended to the rear in the 1970s and 1980s, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: externally it retains its late C18 form and local characteristics;
* Proportion of survival: a significant proportion of the original wall fabric, ceiling beams to the kitchen, and some elements of the roof structure survive;
* Comparators: similar buildings are listed elsewhere, including in the same parish;
* Group value: it forms part of a group with three other listed buildings at the west end of Cackle Street.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26566667

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

• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living