Description

LITTLE BRAXTED

464/0/10012 WITHAM ROAD
28-SEP-09 St. Nicholas Cottage

II
Former National School, now cottage and community facility, constructed in 1854-5 with an extension of 1890 by Rev. E. Geldart and single storey C20 extensions to rear.

MATERIALS
Red brick laid in Flemish bond and tile covered gable and half-hipped roofs.

PLAN
Elongated 'T' shape.

EXTERIOR
The façade faces south; a remodelled entrance porch with C20 roof leads to the entrance, with panelled door, into the former classroom. To the left (north-west) is a two storey integrated schoolmaster's house with a projecting gable. An engraved brick on the corner has the initials 'R E' and the date 1854. A single storey classroom adjoins at right-angles to the south-east, with an additional classroom of 1890 added beyond. The gable and half-hipped roofs have scallop-shaped decorative bargeboards to the façade, plain at the side elevations and rear, and an off-centre ridge stack serving both the house and earlier classroom. To the left of the porch, casement windows with mullions and diamond leaded lights beneath straight segmental brick heads are on the ground and first floors of the house. To the right of the porch there are three tripartite casement windows to the classrooms, with mullions and leaded lights. The east gable end has a small bell tower; the bell is missing. The rear elevation has similar tripartite windows to the classrooms and leaded light casements to the house.

INTERIOR
A four-panel door leads from the classroom directly into the front room of the house, where wainscots, dado rails and a simple fire surround remain. The kitchen to the rear retains the range and cupboard recess. Winder stairs lead to the first floor where the rooms have simple cornices, fireplaces and battened doors.

The earliest classroom has some surviving wainscots and a fireplace at the west end with late C19 fire surround. The king-post roof has timber plank cladding. The timber partition with the later classroom remains; it has a fixed centre with two flanking doors. The 1890 classroom has been refurbished, but retains a metal strut roof, which is probably contemporary.

HISTORY
St Nicholas Cottage was built as a National School to serve the 'poor children living in the parish of Little Braxted' at the expense of the Revd. Charles Townsend, Curate of the parish. Originally a small 'T' shaped building, the school comprised a two storey school master's house adjoined by a single classroom. In 1890, an additional classroom was added to the south-east, with a modest bell tower at the gable end, designed by the Rev. Ernest Geldart, vicar of Little Braxted between 1881 and 1900. Geldart was responsible for important alterations to Little Braxted church in 1884, so was a figure of great interest in local terms; he is a figure of national note too, responsible for 163 projects of a High Church nature, the most important of which is the reredos of St Cuthbert's, Philbeach Gardens, Kensington. He had trained under Alfred Waterhouse. The school entrance to the front has been remodelled in the C20 and a small single storey bathroom extension was constructed at the rear in the 1960s. A timber-clad porch has been added at the north-east corner.

In 1937 the recent occupant, the artist Kenneth Wood (1912-2008), took tenure of the former schoolmaster's house and the earlier classroom, using the latter as an artist's studio. Geldart's addition is occupied by the Little Braxted Community and Educational Trust.

SOURCES
Pevsner N and Bettley J. The Buildings of England:Essex, (2007), p.542

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION
St Nicholas Cottage is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons.
* It is a rare example of a humble mid-C19 former National School.
* It has simple, but complete, detailing and is comparable in quality to other designated schools of this date.
* It has an intact plan-form and retains most of the fixtures and fittings of the mid C19 and notable late C19 features.
* Its connection with the nationally significant priest-architect, Ernest Geldart, who also restored Little Braxted church, adds further to its interest.

Reasons for Listing

St Nicholas Cottage has been designaed at Grade II for the following principal reasons.
* It is a rare example of a humble mid-C19 former National School.
* It has simple, but complete, detailing and is comparable in quality to other designated schools of this date.
* It has an intact plan-form and retains most of the fixtures and fittings of the mid C19 and notable late C19 features.
* Its connection with the nationally significant priest-architect, Ernest Geldart, who also restored Little Braxted church, adds further to its interest.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26672614

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

• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2