23 Stokke Common, Great Bedwyn, Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire

Summary

A detached cottage. Circa first half of the C18, possibly with earlier origins. Mid- to late C20 additions to the east and rear.

Description

A detached cottage. Circa first half of the C18, possibly with earlier origins. Mid- to late C20 additions to the east and rear.

MATERIALS: constructed of red brick in Flemish and English bonds, under a thatched roof that is hipped at its east end. The large external brick stack is now enclosed by the western outshut which is also built of brick with a tall hipped roof of thatch. The C20 additions are also brick under thatched roofs.

PLAN: the building has an L-shaped plan. The two-storey cottage has a two-room plan with single-bay outshut to the west end. It was extended in the mid- to late C20 with a single-storey addition to the east end and one of two bays at the rear. The windows appear to have been re-fenestrated in C20, and most are timber casements.

EXTERIOR: asymmetrical south front to cottage of brick laid in Flemish bond. The ground-floor casement window is disposed towards the left and there is an entrance to the right end with a flat-arched lintel of headed bricks and a timber door with glazed panel. To the first floor are two casements, of three and two lights. The west outshut has a timber door with a three-light casement to the left and a late C20 pair of glazed doors inserted in the west return. The ridge-line to the rear addition is lower than that to the outshut and it is half-hipped with a lower gablet at its north end. Its west elevation has two casements and there are two windows in its east wall. The rear wall of the cottage is built of brick laid in an irregular English bond and has two small windows to the ground floor, both under concrete lintels. The single-storey addition to the east has casement windows to both the north and south elevations.

INTERIOR: not inspected (2014), but understood to retain at least one inglenook fireplace to the ground floor.

History

The area around, and including Stokke Common, may have formerly been part of the once larger medieval royal forest of Savernake, or part of the lands belonging to Stokke Manor, and it later became part of the common lands of Great Bedwyn parish. The common was possibly associated with the documented village of Stock, the precise site of which is unknown.

23 Stokke Common is situated in an isolated position in a clearing on the edge of woodland, which is today on the boundary of the Tottenham Estate. A building is depicted in the same location on a map of the area drawn as part of a survey conducted in 1753 and is considered to represent 23 Stokke Common. At the time it was said to be occupied by Thomas Nicholas. The cottage, therefore, dates from at least the first half of the C18, but based on stylistic evidence and a historic building report of the neighbouring cottage, 21-22 Stokke Common, which has a similar design, it is likely that No. 23 has earlier origins as a timber-framed building possibly dating from the late C16/early C17 that was later largely rebuilt in brick. Two different types of bonds have been used for the brickwork, suggesting that the cottage was rebuilt on a piecemeal basis, probably in several phases.

On the Ordnance Survey map of 1880 the building has a rectangular footprint comprising three blocks: the original two-bay cottage, a single-bay outshut to the west end, and a further addition parallel with the rear elevation. By 1900 the western outshut had been incorporated within the dwelling. During the second half of the C20 the rear addition was removed and single-storey extensions were added to the east gable end and to the rear, roughly at right angles to western end of the cottage.

Reasons for Listing

23 Stokke Common, an early C18 cottage, possibly with earlier origins, which was extended in the second half of the C20, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Architectural interest: its exterior conveys an honest and legible expression of rural domestic accommodation of a very simple type;
* Intactness: the C20 additions have not obscured the historic plan of the cottage which is clearly legible and adds to our understanding of domestic vernacular architecture of this date;
* Evolution: the later outshut which originally served a non-domestic function adds interest to the building and provides evidence of its historic development;
* Historic interest: such cottages, originally occupied by the poorest in their communities, are increasingly rare survivals;
* Group value: it is situated just outside the Grade II* registered landscape of Tottenham House and Savernake Forest, and has strong group value with 21-22 Stokke Common (listed Grade II).

External Links

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.