Description

502/0/10025

LONGHOPE
BARREL LANE
Mutlow Cottage

12-MAY-08

II
A farm worker's cottage, dating from the mid-late C18, probably originally two dwellings.

MATERIALS: The building is constructed from limewashed local sandstone brought to course, with brick stacks, set under a plain clay tile roof.

PLAN: The cottage is oriented north-south, and is built into a bank, and on ground which rises to the south. The cottage is a single depth plan, in two ranges, with an outshut to the rear of the northern range housing a scullery. Each range has a single room, with a stair in the southern range; to the first floor, a single room to the south and two to the north.

EXTERIOR: The house is of three bays, and the front elevation is of two storeys; to the rear, the building is set into the bank, and so the first floor appears at ground level. The northern range is of two bays, with a central entrance door flanked by segmental headed window openings to the ground floor, and rectangular windows to the first floor. The southern range has an entrance door to the left, with similar windows to those in the northern range. Both doors are plain plank doors; the windows are oak-framed casements with leaded glass and iron fittings, that to the ground floor of the southern section of three lights, with similar two-light windows above; the northern range has two-light windows throughout. There is a small timber canopy porch to the door in the southern range. To the rear, there is a catslide roof over the outshut; this elevation has no fenestration apart from a small window at the head of the stair, similar to those in the front elevation. To the north, a flight of stone steps runs along the side of the building to give access to a door at first floor level. The north gable end has a shuttered opening above the entrance door giving access to the loft.

INTERIOR: The ground floor has flagged stone floors; the southern room retains a late C19 fire surround with a slightly earlier fire grate, and an early C19 cupboard in the alcove to the right of the chimney breast. The northern room has a large C19 range set an angle into the chimney breast which is shared with the bread oven in the scullery to its rear. The scullery also has a built in copper for heating water. The northern ground floor room has a very large-section exposed chamfered ceiling beam, hand-hewn, with exposed ceiling joists, all of which is whitewashed; the ceiling beams in the southern room are lighter in section but also chamfered and whitewashed. A C20 partition has been inserted in the ground floor room to the north to create a bathroom. The straight elm stair has moulded treads and a closed string with plain stick balusters. The first floor retains a C19 fireplace in the southern room, which also has wide elm floorboards. All the doors throughout the interior are early C19 plank and batten doors.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: There is a small stone-built privy to the north of the cottages.

HISTORY: The building appears from its fabric to date from the mid-late C18. It appears to have originated as two farm workers' cottages associated with the nearby Old Farm. The cottages appear very little unaltered since at least the mid-C19; the plan form remains constant in the Ordnance Survey map series covering the period 1883-1923. They are believed to have been made into a single dwelling in 1915.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION:
Mutlow Cottage is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:
* This farm worker's cottage dates from the C18, and retains its plan form and fabric largely unaltered since this date
* Its special interest is enhanced by the survival of good details from the C19 which help to demonstrate its evolution
* The construction is of good quality and is representative of the vernacular tradition of the area
* Very few of these relatively humble and once common cottages now remain unaltered where they remain at all, making Mutlow Cottage an increasingly rare survival

Reasons for Listing

Mutlow Cottage is listed Grade II, for the following principal reasons:
* This farm worker's cottage dates from the C18, and retains its plan form and fabric largely unaltered since this date
* Its special interest is enhanced by the survival of good details from the C19 which help to demonstrate its evolution
* The construction is of good quality and is representative of the vernacular tradition of the area
* Very few of these relatively humble and once common cottages now remain unaltered where they remain at all, making Mutlow Cottage an increasingly rare survival

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26671798

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

• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)