Laurel Cottage And Crowthorne

Laurel Cottage and Crowthorne are a pair of semi-detached houses built between 1846 and 1847 for the Chartist Co-operative Land Company. They are constructed of stuccoed brick with a Welsh slate roof. The design features a two-storey, pedimented central block with slightly recessed one-storey wings, arranged in a 1:2:1 configuration, a layout unique to the Chartist settlements. The original windows have glazing bars on the right-hand side, while those on the left have been altered. A rectangular panel within the pediment, with extended sides, is a distinctive feature used throughout O’Connorville. Entrances are located on the sides of Crowthorne and to the front of Laurel Cottage. The houses have a plinth and axial ridge stacks, along with stacks to the rear of the wings. 20th-century alterations and additions have been made to the rear. The interior remains uninspected. These houses represent some of the best surviving examples from O'Connorville, which was founded by Feargus O'Connor, a Chartist leader, as the first settlement under his Land Plan. Initially, a school and 35 cottages were built, each with between 2 and 4 acres of land.