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

• Wikidata Q26570402

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Recommended Books

• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2