Farm Labourer'S Cottage

Farm Labourer's Cottage is a small dwelling built around 1800, with some minor alterations from the 19th century. The cottage is constructed of red brick in a Flemish garden wall bond and features a clay tile roof with stepped eaves and a plain brick stack at the north-west corner. It consists of one and a half bays, is a single storey with an attic, and has a half bay single storey service range to the east.

The south elevation is partially rendered and has a plank door for the entrance on the east side, along with a two-light, three-pane casement window to the west. The west gable has a central buttress to support the single brick thickness wall, with two-light casement windows on both the ground and attic floors south of the central buttress. The east gable also features a similar buttress, with a ground floor window opening that lacks a frame and a first floor window opening without lights within the frame. The service range to the east includes a plain plank door and a two-light casement window.

Inside, there is a hearth in the north-west corner with a plain mantel shelf and a cast-iron oven range. The ceiling joists run east-west and are supported by a slender chamfered spine beam resting on stub brick walls. A brick partition to the east encloses a small storage area, and a plain plank door leads to the service range, which contains a tiny hob grate and a brick copper on the east wall.

The building is depicted on a plan of Erdington dated 1802 and appears on the Erdington Enclosure map from 1802-1806. An 1817 plan of cottages located at the Turf Pits shows the existing building along Turf Pit Road, which later became Jerry's Lane. This cottage is a very rare example of an unaltered small dwelling of a primitive type, representing a level of housing provision that has largely disappeared in both urban and rural areas.