Toll House Cottage

Small cottage built in the late C18.

MATERIALS: red brick, partly whitewashed and partly rendered, scored to resemble ashlar. Red brick chimney stacks and pantile roof covering.

PLAN: the cottage has a rectangular plan and is located on the west side of Bourne Road to the south of Folkingham.

EXTERIOR: the cottage has a dentilled eaves cornice and irregular elevations. On the west side there is a pitched roof with a gable stack over two, low, attic rooms. The single-storey, east side has a higher pitched roof with a hip to the east through which rises a large stack. The principal, three-bay east elevation has a central four-panel front door, flanked by six-over-six pane sash windows with slender glazing bars and moulded frames. The south elevation is lit by a large six-pane window with slender glazing bars, and to the right, a sliding sash attic window. This is followed by a door with flush panels and with three vertical glazed panels in the top half. Further to the right is a two-light, casement window which appears to be C20 in date. On the north elevation there is a tie rod and a nine-pane window. The west elevation is lit by an attic window on the left hand side, but due to the scaffolding and limited access to the attic, it was not possible to see this window in any detail.

INTERIOR: the east side of the cottage contains four rooms, one occupying each corner, with a straight flight of stairs between the back two rooms. The west side, which was probably added slightly later, contains the former kitchen and scullery with two attic rooms above. There are numerous plank and batten doors with strap hinges and latches, and one four-panel door. In some rooms, where the ceiling plaster has fallen away, lath and plaster is exposed . The front door opens into the reception room in the north-east corner. This has an ornate, arched, cast-iron fireplace in a plain timber surround, flanked by segmental arched recesses; that on the left contains a door. The room in the south-east corner has red and black quarry floor tiles, and a corner fireplace with a plain timber surround and a hobgrate embellished with a raised, Adamesque pattern of urns. The floor of the room in the north-west corner is laid in red tiles, and a tiled fireplace in this room dates to the mid-C20. In the kitchen there is a fireplace of a similar date and it retains a chamfered and stopped bridging beam. In the scullery, there is a plank and batten door at first-floor level which was probably originally reached by a ladder to provide access to the attic. The two attic rooms retain floorboards and the larger room on the north side has a hobgrate.

Where the ceiling has fallen away in the north-east corner, part of the roof structure over the eastern side of the cottage can be seen. Some of the rafters appear to have been replaced. The roof is in the process of ongoing collapse (2016).