23 Warren Lane, Lickey

A late C18/early C19 nailworker's cottage with attached workshop.

MATERIALS: the cottage is built of brick under a tile roof, with timber and metal windows.

PLAN: the cottage is the northern half of a semi-detached pair, and is aligned roughly north south. It faces west.

EXTERIOR: the cottage has two windows to each floor on its west front; those to the ground floor have cambered heads and are three-light casements. First floor windows are two-light casements, and above these are dentilled eaves. Between the ground floor windows is a projecting square bay which is in the position of the original main entrance. The chimney stack rises from the rear corner. At the northern end of the cottage is a single storey projection containing the workshop and the current main entrance. The workshop has dentilled eaves to match the cottage and a large window in its northern elevation, and a tall chimney on its east side.

To the rear is a single storey extension in brick with a rear door and two windows.

INTERIOR: the main entrance opens into a small lobby to the side of what was the workshop, with the workshop beyond. This is a single room but has a small pantry partitioned off, and there is an early-mid C20 tiled fireplace surround against the chimney breast. An opening in the side wall of the original cottage gives access to the main living room; this opening is in the position of the original winder stair. The living room retains a late-C19 fireplace range with an inbuilt cupboard to the side. The fireplace has a chamfered bressumer supported at one end on a post now encased in later timber. Across the centre of the ceiling is a substantial chamfered beam, with lamb's tongue stops at the fireplace end. The ground floor windows have timber mullions which are chamfered on the internal side.

The second downstairs room has a suspended timber floor, and gives access to the rear extension and the inserted stairs to the first floor. There are two rooms on the upper floor, one with a large corner fireplace.