Freemens Cottage

Freemen's Cottages, Welford Road, Leicester

A former row of cottages built in two principal phases to provide accommodation for elderly members of the Freemen of Leicester and their widows. The original block was constructed in 1856 to designs by architects Messrs Redfern & Sawday, with enlargement works undertaken in 1885. A separate range of cottages was built in 1893 to a design by Stockdale Harrison and subsequently linked to the original row during the 20th century, with further extensions added to the rear.

The 1856 block is a two-storey double-pile structure fronting Welford Road, constructed in red brick with blue brick plinth and blue brick banding beneath the first-floor windows, and a stock brick band marking the first floor. The roof is of plain tiles with four axial stacks (rebuilt). The main façade is symmetrical in composition, featuring slightly projecting central bays and gabled end wings. The ground floor contains a row of ten windows and the first floor six windows; these are four-light casements with stone quoins and sills and Gothic arched heads, with the exception of four one-over-one sash windows on the ground floor which may have replaced original doorways. Shield-shaped plaques in each end gable bear the date 1856. The central bay rises to a pedimented gable with corbelled brickwork beneath supporting a blank arch with stone head, inset stone-edged circle and stone shield motif. The pediment is crowned by a slightly projecting octagonal open lantern with conical roof and weathervane. The north-west gable end of the rear wing contains a window with canopy and an adjacent large cross mullion with stone hood mould. A corbelled projection beside this bears a slate plaque commemorating the 1885 enlargement.

The rear elevation displays a range of six casement windows on each floor with wooden lintels and sills and brick dentils below the sills. A central porch with round-headed arch detail beneath a pediment is partly obscured by a later extension, with a single-storey extension to the north-west of the porch. The stock brick band continues around all sides.

The 1893 building to the south-east is a two-storey three-bay double-pile range with porch and stair block off the north-west gable, in brick with plain tile roof and two tall brick stacks flanking a central bay. Initially separated from the original cottages by a passage, it is now connected to them. The main façade is Jacobethan in style and symmetrical, featuring a projecting central section with gabled pediment and three slightly projecting six-light timber mullioned and transomed windows to each floor. An oval inset in the gable bears the date 1893. The predominantly English bond brickwork is enhanced by simple polychrome design in single bands of blue brick and diaper patterning in the end gables. The porch block, set back from the main façade with a canopy over the door and single window above, projects rearward to provide access from both sides. An adjacent plaque commemorates the 1893 construction date. The link building connecting the two ranges dates from the 20th century. A single-storey rear extension built in 1992 is of no architectural importance.

Interior

The cellular format of both buildings survives largely intact. The cottages opened off hallways running the length of each floor, with a range of narrower rooms to the rear which may have housed washing and cooking facilities. The front rooms, now used for consultations and as restrooms for the health centre, have mostly retained the original portioned-off sections for sleeping and some built-in cupboards, though all fireplaces have been removed or blocked and most doors replaced.

History

The Freemen of Leicester trace their origins to approximately 1107, when Robert, Count of Meulen granted a Charter to the Merchants of Leicester, allowing them to reform the Guild of Merchants and conduct business with the same rights and privileges they had enjoyed before the Norman Conquest. Over time the gildsmen became known as the Freemen and until 1835 served as the local government of the borough. Shortly before 1835, the Freemen were granted land to the south of Leicester under the Enclosure Acts and were empowered by further legislation to elect a Board of deputies to manage their estates. Freemen's Cottages were built in two main phases, in 1856 and 1893, to provide accommodation for aged Freemen and Freemen's widows.

The cottages are of historic importance for their association with the Freemen of Leicester and represent an interesting example of relatively unaltered Victorian-period almshouses.