Swan Cottage is a Grade II listed building in the North Hertfordshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 3 June 1987. House.

Swan Cottage

WRENN ID
solitary-window-swift
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
North Hertfordshire
Constituency
North East Hertfordshire MP: Chris Hinchliff (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
3 June 1987
Type
House
Address
Swan Cottage, 3, High Street, Barkway
OS grid reference
TL 384 358
Coordinates
52.00414, 0.01618
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

Swan Cottage is a house that dates from the early to mid 17th century, with extensions and alterations made in the 18th century and later. It features a timber frame set on a red brick base, with rendered surfaces and some weatherboarding. The roof is steeply pitched and tiled. The house consists of three sections, likely originally designed as a through passage plan, and has two storeys along with a cellar.

The high plinth includes a cellar window on the right. On the ground floor, there are steps leading up to the entrance, which is located to the left of the center. The entrance features a plank door framed by early 19th-century timber architrave with shaped brackets supporting a pedimental hood. The ground floor has three-light small pane flush frame casements with hood boards, while the first floor has similar two-light casements. The eaves are boxed.

There is a cross axial stack located to the right of the center, which has two original octagonal shafts. Attached to the left is an early one-bay, one-storey gabled outshut that includes a three-light casement, with weatherboarded gable ends. At the rear, there is a slate-roofed, weatherboarded 19th-century continuous lean-to outshut. To the rear right is an 18th-century one-storey kitchen wing that is connected to a former barn with corrugated sheet roofing. Additionally, there is a 20th-century two-storey gabled wing to the rear left.

Inside, the cottage features exposed framing and a stop ovolo moulded axial bearer in the 'hall' bay. The building was formerly known as the Swan Public House.

Local climate

Swan Cottage sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 700 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 92% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 78% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 59% of listed buildings. Of these, 17 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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  5. 24, 24a and 26, High Street Grade II 51 m
  6. Numbers 11 (The Red House) and 11a Grade II 66 m
  7. 15, High Street Grade II 97 m
  8. 19 and 19a, High Street Grade II 125 m
  9. 21, High Street Grade II 150 m
  10. St George's Grade II 160 m