Description

DIPTFORD
SX75NW
DIPTFORD
4/241 Church House and Church
Cottage

GV II

Pair of attached cottages probably originally one house. Circa early C17
or late C16 with later alterations including circa C18 rear wing and C20
addition at left end. roughcast stone rubble. Asbestos slate roof with
gabled ends. Gable end stack at the original left hand end. there appears
to be a truncated axial stack to the right of centre.
Plan: Original plan uncertain. Originally it was either a 2-room plan
with a central through passage, the narrow right hand room being an C18
addition, possibly built at the same time as the unheated rear wing of 1-
room plan which was added behind the central room and the right hand room.
Alternatively the right hand room may have been the third room of a 3 room
plan. the right and left hand rooms are heated from gable end stacks
neither has an oven; and the left hand room has a newel stairs in the gable
end wall to the left (front) of the fireplace. There may have been a stack
between the centre room and the right hand room but a staircase now rises
against this partition wall; probably inserted when the house was divided
into 2 cottages. Church Cottage occupies the narrow right hand room and
the unheated rear wing and church house occupies the central and left hand
rooms and has a small kitchen in an addition along the side of the rear
wing. In the C20 a 1-room plan addition was built at the left hand end
open on the ground floor.
Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 4 window range. 3 sashes on the first
floor, the left hand window as early C19 16-pane sash, the others are C20.
Ground floor a small C20 sash with glazing bars to the left and 2 late C19
or early C20 2 and 3-light casements to the right with glazing bars.
Doorway slightly left of centre with C20 wall below which is slightly
splayed back at this end. At the left hand end a 1-room plan addition,
open on the ground floor and the first floor supported on corner piers.
Wing at the rear has a half hipped slate roof.
Interior: The plank and muntin screen between the left hand room and the
passage, the muntins chamfered on the passage side with hollow step stops
and mason's mitres and a doorway with a cambered head. The plank and
muntin partition on the right hand side has been removed except for a short
section at the front. The passage has deeply chamfered joists with hollow
step stops. The left hand room has a rough cross beam with slight chamfer
and some chamfered joists with hollow step stops. The fireplace in the
left hand gable end has an unchamfered timber lintel and newel stairs to
its left. The hollow right hand room (Church cottage) has a small
fireplace with a roughly chamfered timber lintel.
Roof: straight principal rafters with mortices for threaded purlins, the
apexes are lap jointed and it appears that the principals have been reused
and the common rafters replaced. Only the interior of Church House was
inspected.

Listing NGR: SX7275056712

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26610564

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)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)