38, 40 AND 40A, MANOR ROAD

A pair of cottages originating from the 1790s, possibly refronted in the mid-19th century and altered in the later 19th century, with an extension added to the left in the early 20th century.

Number 38 is constructed of timber-framed material, rendered and weather-boarded, with the front and right return built in brown brick featuring red brick rubbed window arches. The building has slate hipped roofs with red tile ridge tiles. Number 40 has a rendered front. Both buildings are two storeys with cellars beneath part of each house and follow a near symmetrical three-bay plan, one cell deep, with a central entrance leading to the stair. Each has a rear two-storey outshut, formerly probably single storey but now incorporated under the main rear roof.

Number 38's exterior is predominantly brown brick laid in Flemish bond, with the right return partly painted. The windows, set under flat rubbed red brick arches, have been replaced with late 20th-century sashes in original exposed moulded frames. Above the entrance is a blind recessed panel. A restored timber trellis porch with a slightly splayed roof leads to a single-leaved panelled front door with coloured glass lights, which replaced an earlier two-leaved door. To the right is a brick lean-to from the early 20th century incorporating a former external WC, though the structure is said to date from the 1830s. Brick central and rear stacks feature plain tile pots. The rear ground floor is rendered while the first floor is weather-boarded, with small-paned sashes and casements (mostly replaced but in original openings) to the rear.

Number 40 has a large gabled porch beneath a slate roof with a replaced door, flanked by sashes some in moulded frames. Above the entrance is a blind recessed panel. The rear is partly weather-boarded with small-paned casements.

Number 40A was added in the early 20th century as a single-storey outshut to the left of Number 40 and has since been extended and altered. The single-storey element forming the main part of Number 40A is not of special interest.

The interior plan of Number 38 is largely intact, although rear rooms in the outshut are now one open space on the ground floor. Two broad vertically boarded doors with strap hinges survive, one with a substantial lock. There are two-panel doors to the closet over the entrance and early 20th-century doors to the first-floor rear section. Other doors are later 20th-century in original moulded doorcases. The interiors of Numbers 40 and 40A were not inspected.

The plot is well documented through deeds and records relating to the enclosure and construction of "substantial new built dwelling houses" between 1792 and 1796, and their subsequent history. The buildings are clearly marked on the 1840 tithe map and appear to form the core of the existing buildings, which were later modified rather than rebuilt. Numbers 38 and 40 are of particular interest as their extensive documentation provides insight into the history of a modest pair of pre-1840 cottages.

These buildings form part of the historic core of Wallington hamlet, which adjoins Carshalton and contains a rich heritage of 18th and 19th-century buildings. They have group value with the Grade II listed Duke's Head Public House and stable block (160 metres to the north), Numbers 8 to 16 (even), and the neighbouring Numbers 32 and 36, all forming a vernacular group in Manor Road.