Victoria Cottage

TL 64 SE STEEPLE BUMPSTEAD CHURCH STREET 2/56 Victoria Cottage,

GV II

Building of uncertain purpose, late C16, altered in C18, C19 and C20. Timber framed, plastered, roofed with handmade red clay tiles. 3 bays aligned approx. E-W, aspect S, with external chimney stack at E end. 2-bay extension to E, enclosing the stack, C18. Rear extension to W bay, with internal chimney stack at the junction, C18/19. Lean-to extension to rear of remainder, with catslide roof, C19. 2 storeys. 2 C20 doors with bracketed pediments, 2 C18 splayed oriels with double-hung sash windows of 3-15-3 lights, and curved wooden brackets below, 2 C20 casement windows. First floor, 4 C19/20 casement windows. The interior has plain-chamfered axial beams, joists plastered to the soffits. Partition wall between 2 middle ground floor rooms removed. Some exposed studding in lower rear wall, with evidence of a former unglazed window of 4 lights. Jowled posts, close studding with curved tension braces trenched to the inside, short arched braces to tiebeams, clasped purlin roof with curved wind bracing. The upper floor appears originally to have been one undivided space, partitioned later. Thus the unusual position of the main stack, and the position almost opposite the church suggest a public rather than a domestic function originally. The building was restored by public subscription as 3 cottages to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, 1897, the origin of the present name. They have been combined to form one house.

Listing NGR: TL6797241074