Wressle Cottage

A detached cottage, apparently a 19th-century renovation of a 17th-century two-room house, is located at 3443-3543 Upper Clatford Foundry Road. The construction is a combination of timber framing with brick infill and rendered panels, along with brick and flint walling to the ends, and a half-nipped thatched roof. A brick chimney stack is also present. The two-storey front has two bays, with a single-storey extension to the west gable. A rendered plinth is visible. The windows are mostly cast-iron casements, with a 2-light 24-pane window in a segmental brick arch to the lower bay, a 3-light 36-pane window in a timber frame to the second bay, and a later 19th-century small-pane timber casement to the upper bay. A boarded door is positioned between the bays, accompanied by a 20th-century timber porch and cast-iron step/threshold. The west gable extension has a Welsh slate roof, an additional chimney stack, a larger 2-light 24-pane cast-iron casement in a segmental arched opening, and a boarded door in a similar opening to the second bay. A blocked doorway is situated between these openings. The east elevation reveals exposed timber framing and rendered panels to the first floor. The rear elevation features bonded brick and flint work, two additional cast-iron windows, and 20th-century timber casements set in flat-roofed dormers. The interior largely retains its early/mid-19th-century layout; a dog-leg stair has been partly reconstructed but remains in its original position, as do the first-floor partitions, which are a combination of timber framing and matchboarding. A wide fireplace is present, with indications of a former oven and a timber bressumer. Some internal timber framing is exposed. A queen post with curved tension braces and a chamfered spine beam with run-out stops are also visible. A series of 19th-century plank doors are incorporated throughout. The cast-iron elements are of considerable local interest as the nearby Tasker Brothers foundry (active from around 1813 to 1985) was likely the manufacturer.