Plum Tree Cottage And Gwenarth

Plum Tree Cottage and Gwenarth are a pair of attached estate houses dating from circa 1871, designed by Joseph Goddard of Leicester. They are constructed of polychrome red brick with blue brick and stone dressings, and have a steeply pitched patent tile roof with pierced bargeboards to the gables, deep verges and eaves. A central axial brick stack is present.

The houses are arranged in a T-shape, with projecting gables at the centre and porches set into the angles to the left and right. The south west front is symmetrical, following a 1:2:1 arrangement. The central gables have ornate shaped bargeboards, though the bargeboard to the left is missing, and a finial is absent from the right gable. A blue brick band is stepped and arched over two pointed arch first-floor windows, which contain 3-light wooden frames with foiled tympana. Two square bay windows are present on the ground floor, with a continuous tiled canopy supported by curved braces. The porches to the left and right have hipped tile canopies on curved braces; the right porch is now glazed. A blue brick corbel table sits above, together with a blue brick stringcourse over stepped stair lancets and depressed two-centred arch windows on the left and right returns. A plinth featuring blue brick weathering is also present.

The interior has not been inspected. Plum Tree Cottage and Gwenarth represent a good example of a pair of High Victorian Gothic estate houses.