Percy Cottage and wall attached to north west corner

Percy Cottage and Wall

Percy Cottage is a house dating from around 1820, built to incorporate an 18th-century dwelling as an east wing. The interior features notable mural paintings by J Ferguson in the drawing room.

MATERIALS AND CONSTRUCTION

The building is constructed of ashlar sandstone on its main elevation, with rubble sandstone to the left return. Hand-made brick in English Garden wall bond with ashlar dressings forms other parts. The roof is covered in Welsh slate.

LAYOUT AND SETTING

The cottage has an L-shaped plan with a basement at the west end. It is oriented east to west on a sloping site above the River Wansbeck.

EXTERIOR FEATURES

The river-facing west elevation presents two bays and two storeys above the basement, which forms the ground floor at this level. A stone band separates the two upper floors. The basement contains a boarded door flanked by six-pane fixed windows in original openings with stone sills. Above, a balcony carried on stone brackets is accessed by a pair of French windows. The upper floor has a pair of eight-over-eight sliding sash windows. Above these sits a cornice and a broken pediment featuring a timber roundel bearing a quatrefoil, with a parapet behind. The roof is gabled on the left with a chimney stack and hipped on the right.

The single-bay right return has a similar broken pediment and roundel with sandstone quoins. It comprises two storeys above a basement, the latter partially visible with a small square opening. An eight-over-eight sliding sash window serves both ground and first floors, the ground-floor window within an original surround with a flat-arched brick head. A similar window in the rear elevation also features a brick flat-arch head. The single-bay left return is blind.

The earlier rear range facing south has two storeys and three bays, with the centre bay pedimented. Gable chimney stacks are present, the right one rebuilt in the 20th century. Sandstone quoins mark the right end, and the brickwork to the upper parts indicates the range has been raised in height. Eight-over-eight sliding sash windows serve the first floor to the first and second bays, whilst the third bay has an inserted casement. The ground floor contains entrances with fanlights to the second and third bays; the latter features a brick flat arch and a modern door, whilst the former retains double six-panel doors with fielded panels. An original window opening in the first bay has been modified to form a door, and there is a narrow inserted door to the left. Stone steps parallel to the south elevation lead to the basement. The rear elevation contains a small modern single-storey extension and three inserted casement windows. The conservatory attached to the south elevation and the buttress and small lean-to building attached to the east gable are not included in the listing.

INTERIOR FEATURES

The basement room contains a brick-built fireplace and original ceiling beams (though most are replacements), with timber lintels to the three openings.

The ground floor retains its original linear plan. Six-panel doors with fielded panels, some with historic door furniture, are present throughout, and two of the three rooms feature wide boarded floorboards. The present kitchen has chamfered beams and a large fireplace with a stone lintel. The central room contains a fireplace set against the former west external wall and incorporates a six-panel door forming a cupboard. The drawing room has simple cornice and skirting boards and an inserted terracotta chimney piece of mid-20th-century style, though the original hearth remains below. The walls are divided into recessed rectangular panels containing a series of mural paintings in the Romantic style. Subjects include Claudian landscapes, ruined castles, awesome waterfalls, sea scenes, and pastoral landscapes. These paintings are characteristic of their early-19th-century date, deriving from 17th-century Dutch and French artists. Some display a stronger Romantic sensibility, such as the crashing waterfall, whilst the ruined abbey by a lake most clearly exhibits a Gothick aesthetic. Tall, thin panels framed by Gothic arches with small figures below are also evident.

The timber dog-leg stair is of later-18th and early-19th-century style with a ramped handrail, double moulded newel posts to the landings, and simple stick balusters. A third flight rises partially into the roof space to a re-sited timber partition forming a cupboard, which features fielded panels incorporating a six-pane window. Slight constructional differences between the lower part of the staircase and the third flight suggest the latter is later in date, possibly added when the building was raised. The original early-19th-century roof structure is understood to remain above.

The first floor layout has undergone some remodelling to create corridor access to the main west bedroom. Doors are mostly four-panel. Two of the three bedrooms have later-18th and early-19th-century timber chimneypieces, whilst the third bedroom has a recent stone fireplace; all retain later hob grates.

EXCLUSIONS FROM LISTING

The 20th-century partitioning to the first floor, all sanitary and kitchen fittings, and the modern balustrade to the basement stair are declared not to be of special architectural or historic interest.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES

A brick wall is attached to the northwest corner of the cottage, stepping down the slope towards the river. It is coped with stone flag coping stones and retains crude circular holes from a former metal railing. This structure contributes to the special interest of the principal building and is included in the listing.