Shell Cottage

HIMBLETON CP SHELL SO 95 NE 7/170 (9/42) Shell Cottage 14.3.69 - II*

House. C15. Timber-framed on lias limestone rubble and brick base, painted brick and rendered infill, thatched roofs. Open hall of two framed bays aligned north-west/south-east with later inserted first floor and sandstone and brick fireplace; the fireplace has a brick ridge stack and lean-to bread oven which projects from the centre of the south-west elevation; solar and service bays built as outshuts; the service outshut has been replaced by a mid-C20 addition. Single storey and attic with dormer. Framing: mainly two panels from sill to wall-plate; solar outshut has large swept braces in lower corners; mid-rail and wall-plate on both sides have traces of diamond mullions indicating the former open hall had tall windows; north-west gable end has a collar and tie-beam truss with struts; south-east gable end has a clasped purlin truss with a mantel beam but no tie-beam (Charles). Main south-west elevation: two C19 windows on the ground floor and an eyebrow dormer to the upper bay; all windows are 2-light casements; ledged and battened C19 door with gabled canopy on shaped brackets to right of upper bay. Attic lights in north-west gable end. Solar outshut has three rectangular C20 lights. Interior: roof has an intermediate arch-braced open truss and three pairs of matched wind-braces on both sides; each clasped purlin runs full length of roof (30 feet); all main roof members are chamfered and, together with the rafters, are all smoke-blackened. Upper end wall-frame to hall has a central post with flanking swept braces and on each side a shallow triangular headed doorway into the solar which has a central partition. A similar doorway at the centre of the north-west gable end led to a combined buttery and pantry in the former service outshut. The fireplace has a moulded lintel and there is a winder staircase at the north-east side of the upper bay. A probably unique example of a medieval hall in miniature; it may have been the Dower House to Shell Manor (qv). (F W B with Mary Charles, Conservation of Timber Buildings, 1984, p 221-3; BoE, p 196).

Listing NGR: SO9520059699