Holly Cottage

Holly Cottage

Cottage, located on the south side of The Green at Bottesford. Originally constructed in the late 17th century, extended in the early 18th century, with alterations dating to the 19th and 20th centuries, and a 21st-century extension to the rear.

The cottage is built of whitewashed coursed ironstone with brick to the right. It is roofed with black-glazed pantiles, featuring a ridge stack to the centre left and an internal gable-end stack to the right. The building is of one storey with attics.

The north side is arranged in three bays. The façade has a central door flanked by one casement window on each side, all details refaced in the late 20th century. An outhouse projects forward on the right. A gable roof marks the outline above. A ridge stack to the left of the door indicates the former division of properties, the building having been returned to a single dwelling. A 21st-century single-storey extension with attic was added to the rear.

Interior: The three-unit plan form survives. Ground-floor bridging beams and joists remain in place, with back-to-back open fireplaces (hood removed) and a stone bread oven. A reasonable proportion of the early 18th-century roof survives along the full length, with rafters, pegged collars, and yokes for the ridge piece intact.

History: The cottage was originally a single dwelling from the early 18th century, with the earlier part dating to the late 17th century. The original stone section to the left and centre appears to have been extended by an additional unit or room in the early 18th century, built in brick, at which time the roof was repaired or renewed. At some point later in the 18th century or early 19th century, a stack was built within the right gable wall. In the 19th century, the original centre-left stack was rebuilt without the large hood that would originally have covered the open fireplaces. A single-storey extension was added to the rear in the 20th century, recently given a pitched roof.

The late 17th-century two-unit cottage remains substantially intact with good survival of walling, bridging beams and joists, back-to-back open fireplaces, a stone bread oven, and a reasonable proportion of early 18th-century roof structure. The stone front wall of the original cottage survives to the centre and left, with the brick wall of the 18th-century unit to the right latterly rebuilt in the late 20th century to rectify subsidence. The left gable-end wall survives, as does a significant section of the rear stone wall with the brick wall of the early 18th-century addition. The rear extension does not significantly interfere with the original structure, and the retention of early 18th-century roof structure surviving within the raised roof is an unusual survival in a single-storey building.