Description

AWLISCOMBE WOLVERSTONE
SY 10 SW

5/26 Birds Cottage
-

GV II

Small farmhouse. Late Medieval origins, modernized in the circa late C17, some C19
and late C20 alterations including partial re-roofing in the late C20. Stone rubble
with C19 red brick quoins; slate roof (formerly thatched), gabled at ends: end stacks
with red brick shafts.
Plan: An east-facing range, parallel to and set back from the road. The present
arrangement is a single depth range, 2 rooms wide with a straight run stair between
the rooms and a single-storey lean-to adjoining at the left (south) end. Surviving
evidence suggests that the existing building is the higher end of a late Medieval open
hall house and it can be conjectured that a former cross or through passage and lower
end room have disappeared from the south end. The existing left hand room was
originally open to the roof timbers as a 2-bay open hall with an open hearth fire.
The right hand room, to the north, has been much rebuilt and its roof structure has
been replaced but it is likely to have been a 2-storey or unheated single-storey
inner room. This is suggested by a formerly closed truss which is smoke-stained on
the south side only. The open hall appears to have been floored in the mid/late C17
with a stack added backing on to the putative cross or through passage. Later
alterations involved the addition of the stair, taken out of the width of the C17
hall, the virtual rebuilding of the inner room and, in the late C20, dividing the C17
hall axially between a narrow kitchen at the rear and a small sitting room at the
front.
Exterior: Modest and giving every appearance of a C19 cottage. 2 window front with
regular openings. C20 front door in centre, blocked doorway to right of centre, two
C19 or C20 timber casement windows with glazing bars. The lean-to adjoining at the
left end is used as a porch.
Interior: The left hand room has chamfered crossbeams, one with pyramid stops, the
cross beams extending through the modern partition that divides the room axially.
C20 fireplace, possibly concealing earlier features. A chamfered cross beam against
the north partition of the stair suggests that the stair has been taken out of the
width of the C17 hall. The right hand room has a C20 fireplace and C20 axial beams.
Roof: An extremely interesting survival over the left (south) end. 2 bays of cruck
construction trusses (presumably jointed crucks although the elbows are plastered
over), the feet said to descend to the ground. The 2 trusses have mortised collars
and a diagonally-set ridge with a triangular strenghtening piece below the apex
joint. The date may be circa 1500, possibly earlier. The original purlins survive
in part, as do the rafters to the rear (west) of the ridge. The Medieval thatch was
originally carried not on battens, but on a thick wattle, a section of which is
preserved to the rear of the ridge. The wattle, rafters, ridge and trusses are
thickly encrusted with soot from the open hearth, except for the right (north) face
of the right (north) truss, which is clean. This was formerly a closed truss (peg
holes on soffit of strengthening piece). To the right (north) the roof structure is
a C20 replacement. The remnants of plaster on the wattle and lime wash on the sooted
trusses indicates that the first floor rooms were originally open to the apex of the
roof.
The design of the Medieval roof trusses (the strengthening pieces) and the survival
of the medieval wattle make this a particularly interesting medieval roof.
Group value with Birds Farmhouse on the other side of the road.

Listing NGR: ST1236804216

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26570402

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

• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability