Cottage With Attached Lobby, Walled Yards And Wash House At Atherstone Lock Number 5 Coventry Canal

This building is a lock cottage, now a pair of cottages, located at Atherstone Lock Number 5 on the Coventry Canal. It was built for the Coventry Canal Company in the late 18th or early 19th century and was extended in the mid-19th century. The structure is made of painted brick and features a slate roof with both a gable stack and a ridge stack. There is a rear extension that also includes a gable stack, and the building has a dentilled cornice and gables.

The canal-facing side of the cottage has three bays and two storeys. The central doorway has a cambered arch and leads to a through passage that divides the two dwellings. To the left of the doorway is a three-light central opening casement with a cambered arch, while to the right are a smaller three-light casement followed by another three-light central opening casement, both also with cambered arches. Above these, there is a row of three three-light central opening casements with flat arches.

The mid-19th century front extension is located to the right of the ridge stack and includes an adjoining lock-keeper's lobby, which is made of brindled brick and has a plain tile roof, ridge stack, and gable stack. The lobby features a doorway with a stone lintel and a plank door, flanked by single windows with stone lintels and sills, and 20th-century casements. Both the lobby and the cottage have adjoining mid-19th century walls with basket-arched doorways leading into small yards, including one to the left of the cottage that is attached to a wash-house. This building is a rare example of a Canal Company cottage that retains its yards and outbuildings.