Florence House, Staunton-on-Wye

Florence House, Staunton-on-Wye

A cottage dating from the 17th century, with additions and alterations made in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The building is timber framed with a sandstone rubble plinth. The infill consists of wattle and daub and brick, with rendered brick walling and some clapboard covering to the northern gable. The southern gable has a rubble stone stack. The roof was originally thatched but is now covered with asbestos tiles on the western side and corrugated sheeting on the south and east. The timbers in the original part of the house are pit-sawn and pegged.

The plan follows a two-cell arrangement with a 20th-century kitchen addition at the southern gable end and a 20th-century bathroom addition on the eastern flank, replacing an earlier addition.

The western (road) facing side displays small framed walling above the rubble stone plinth. The framing spans two cells in height with some disruption for doorways at the centre. To the right is a section of small framing measuring three cells in height by three in width, lacking a wall plate, which appears to be applied and corresponds to the added kitchen extension. Windows comprise one and two-light 19th-century casements, and there is a three-light dormer with catslide roof. The roof is gabled at the northern end and hipped at the south.

The north gable end has timber framing with 4 by 2 cells of small framing and a prominent central post rising to meet the tie beam of the gable end. The gable truss features a king post and collar beam. The infill is wattle and daub with occasional brick replacement. Much of the surface render is eroded and was covered with clapboarding in the 18th or 19th century, which has now been mostly removed. A single-storey outshut with corrugated sheeting walls and catslide roof abuts the lower body of this front.

The eastern flank has blank rendered walling to the kitchen extension at the far left. To the right is the original corner post and wall plate which continues along the front. A two-light 20th-century casement is followed by the projecting 20th-century single-storey bathroom extension with rendered walling and shallow-pitched corrugated sheeting roof. This has a door and two-light window on its east face.

The southern front has a central door flanked by two-light casements. A 20th-century canopy with corrugated plastic roof stands in front, supported by tubular metal posts.

Interior

The plinth, ground sill and elements of the timber frame are apparent in both principal ground-floor rooms and in the dividing wall. The kitchen extension at the south end was built around the rubble stone end stack, which has been rendered at its lower level. Timbers of the formerly external gable end wall are evident.

At first floor level there are two ranks of purlins, but common rafters are not visible behind boarding. The central truss has a heavy tie which has been cut to allow a central doorway between the rooms. The staircase has been removed.

The attic at the southern end is above the kitchen and beneath the hipped roof. Common rafters, which are of 20th-century date, are visible here. The gable end timbers and the wattle and daub infill are also visible. These are smoke blackened, but this appears to be the result of a former leak from the rubble-stone chimney stack which rises through this attic.