Description

EASTLEACH

1373/0/10003 FYFIELD
21-AUG-08 FYFIELD
WALNUT TREE COTTAGE

GV II
Walnut Tree Cottage is a detached house, in a Cotswold vernacular style, dating from the C17.

MATERIALS: The building is constructed from coursed limestone rubble with limestone quoins and dressings, set under a Cotswold stone slate roof.

PLAN: The building is roughly rectangular on plan, with a single-storey extension housing the kitchen which breaks forward slightly from the front of the house. The main range is single depth, of two rooms, each with a gable end fireplace, one with a winder stair.

EXTERIOR: The house is of three bays and two storeys, with a steeply-pitched roof and gable end stacks. There are large dressed limestone quoins to the corners of the main range. To the south (garden) elevation, the windows are two- and three-light chamfered stone mullioned windows with hood moulds. There are three windows to the ground and first floors of the main range, and a later, small fixed light to one stairway; there are two rooflights to this roof slope. The main (north) elevation has a small projecting porch to the ground floor, flanked by window openings, and the lean-to kitchen wing, with a pent roof and ball finial, projects forward slightly beyond the plane of the main range. The first floor has three windows, set under the eaves. The windows to this elevation are pegged, timber casements of the early C19.

INTERIOR: To the interior, the ground floor of the main range has two rooms, one of two bays and the other of one, which retain their chamfered and stopped ceiling beams, and fireplaces with bressumer beams over. The room to the east has a terracotta tiled floor, and leads into the later kitchen extension. The larger room, to the west, has a floor of large flagstones. Alongside the fireplace at the west end is a C17 winder stair with solid oak treads, set within the depth of the gable end wall. The stair continues upwards from the first floor to the attic. The first floor retains its three transverse chamfered and stopped ceiling beams, extending the depth of the house. There are C18, two-panel doors, together with some early C19 plank and batten doors. The western room has a fireplace which retains part of its late C18 or early C19 fire surround, and a contemporary fitted cupboard. The eastern room has an inserted winder stair, probably of the C19, at its eastern end, giving access from this room to the attic. The steeply-pitched roof structure is formed from of trusses consisting of tie beams, paired principal rafters, twin purlins and a high collar, all pegged; there is some later strengthening and a small proportion of replacement of the structure at the western end.

HISTORY: Walnut Tree Cottage appears to have originated in the mid-C17 as a house, perhaps associated with the nearby farm to the north, and formed part of a small group of houses and cottages which includes Honeysuckle Cottage immediately to the north, and 1 and 2 Fyfield Cottages, (qv), all of which date from the C17. The building received some cosmetic alterations in the C18, with the insertion, for instance, of new doors and doorcases. A little later, perhaps into the early part of the C19, a second winder stair was inserted between the first and attic floors of the east end of the house. The building may therefore have been in multiple occupancy at this time. Both Walnut Tree and Honeysuckle Cottages, together with the farmstead to their north, are shown on the 1843 tithe map. By the time of the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1882, the current kitchen extension had been added to the east of the main range, together with the porch, and two small lean-to sections to the west. These small additions were removed in the C20.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION:
Walnut Tree Cottage is designated at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:
* The house is a good survival of a C17 vernacular house, which is well constructed and has clear architectural interest
* Although there has been some minor reordering in the C18 and later, with the addition of a kitchen extension, the original plan form of the building is still clearly legible
* The structure of the C17 building survives well, with good features such as the large fireplaces, the solid-tread winder stair and original chamfered ceiling beams in place, as well as much of the original roof structure and a good proportion of joinery of the C18
* Group value with the nearby Honeysuckle Cottage and 1 and 2 Fyfield Cottages (qv), which are situated in the same cluster of houses
SP2039803854

Reasons for Listing

Walnut Tree Cottage is designated for listing in Grade II, for the following principal reasons:
* The house is a good survival of a C17 vernacular house, which is well constructed and has clear architectural interest
* Although there has been some reordering in the C18 and later, with the addition of a kitchen extension, the original plan form of the building is still clearly legible
* The structure of the C17 building survives well, with good features such as the large fireplaces, the winder stair and original chamfered ceiling beams in place, as well as much of the original roof structure and a good proportion of joinery of the C18
* Group value with the nearby Honeysuckle Cottage (also recommended for listing), and 1 and 2 Fyfield Cottages (listed Grade II), which are situated in the same cluster of houses

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26671927

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

• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)