Woodcote Cottages

WOODCOTE COTTAGES, BEECH HILL ROAD, SPENCERS WOOD

A house dating from the 17th century, now divided into two cottages. The building is timber-framed with a brick chimney stack and a tile roof.

The structure is a detached, three-storey house arranged on a lobby-entry plan with two cells on each floor. To the north are a pair of steeply pitched gabled bays and a single-storey bay beneath a cat-slide roof. The main block to the south follows the original plan. The building was divided into two cottages at ground floor level, with no. 1 occupying the eastern bay and the ground floor of the central section, while no. 2 takes the first floor of the central bay and the entire western bay.

The north-east elevation presents three bays: a single-storey bay to the east under a cat-slide roof and a pair of two-storey gabled bays to the west, both now with lean-to single-storey extensions housing bathroom facilities. The garden-facing south-west elevation appears as a single dwelling, featuring an off-centre door protected by a lean-to storm porch (serving no. 2) and a centrally positioned chimney stack rebuilt using old bricks. No. 1 is accessed via a side entrance to the south-east, also with a lean-to storm porch. The two end gables rise to three storeys with the upper floor tucked high beneath the steeply pitched roof. Pebble-dash render covers the timber-frame, except where purlin and wall plate ends are exposed in the gables. Windows are predominantly 20th-century double-glazed units, though some 19th-century timber-framed examples survive in apparently original positions.

Internally, the timber-frame is visible throughout, including curved wind braces and corner posts. Partitions feature lath and plaster with brick nogging. Principal and secondary ceiling beams display chamfers and stops. Substantial purlins and Queen post structures are evident on the first and second floors. The kitchen of no. 1, positioned beneath the outshut, contains raking beams and struts. Broad wooden floorboards remain, along with some plank doors with wooden latches and pegged surrounds. A back-to-back fireplace occupies the ground floor. The fireplace in no. 1 survives although modified to house a modern wood burner. A kiln within a large cupboard at the north end of the chimney stack in no. 2, possibly a bread kiln, is preserved. A small cast iron Victorian fireplace exists on the first floor of no. 2. Original access between the two halves of the building has been blocked. A winder stair serves no. 2 between ground and first floors, with ladder access to the second floor; modern open stairs serve no. 1, with the first-to-second-floor stair possibly positioned where the original stood.

The building was subdivided into two cottages in the very late 19th century or early 20th century, prior to appearing as two cottages on the 1911 Ordnance Survey map. Single-storey front bathroom and toilet extensions were added in 1958. Most windows have been replaced with 20th-century double-glazed units.

The cottages retain considerable evidence of their 17th-century origin as a timber-framed vernacular dwelling of lobby-entry plan, despite conversion into two separate residences. Early features of interest include the large ground floor fireplace, wooden plank doors with pegged surrounds, and the winder stair.