The Old Cottage is a Grade II listed building in the Three Rivers local planning authority area, England. First listed on 3 October 1985. House.
The Old Cottage
- WRENN ID
- scarred-step-auburn
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Three Rivers
- Constituency
- South West Hertfordshire MP: Mr Gagan Mohindra (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 3 October 1985
- Type
- House
- Address
- The Old Cottage, Hampermill Lane, Watford Rural
- OS grid reference
- TQ 097 939
- Coordinates
- 51.6336, -0.41556
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Old Cottage is a house that was used as accommodation for labourers at Hamper Mill from 1776 to 1908. It dates from the late 17th century or early 18th century and was raised by one storey and refronted in the early 19th century. Originally, it had a timber-framed first floor above a brick ground floor, but it has since been rebuilt in brick and roughcast. The building has a slate roof and consists of three storeys with two bays.
On the ground floor, there are two entrances with doorcases featuring reeded jambs and small hoods, along with two three-light casement windows. The first floor has 16-pane sash windows, while the second floor features 12-pane sash windows. There are casements at the rear of the building. A central stack is located on the front pitch, and the left end stack is adjacent to Hamper Mill House, while Hamper Mill Cottage is to the right. Inside, the ground floor displays chamfered bearers, and the first floor has visible posts and braces in the rear wall.
Local climate
The Old 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 93% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 91% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 30 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 65% of listed buildings. Of these, 13 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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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- 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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