1-6, Room Cottages

Room Cottages, 1-6, Chilbolton, Village Street

A terrace of six houses built in 1893 in Queen Anne style, attributed to the architect W.D Caröe. The cottages were commissioned by Edward Silva to house workers on his Testcombe Estate. The buildings are constructed of red brick in English bond with a brick plinth and plat band, topped with hipped clay tiled roofs and rendered coved eaves. Timber casements with small panes provide fenestration throughout.

Exterior

Numbers 2 to 6 are two storeys in height. Number 1, positioned at the western end, is advanced from the line of the terrace and taller, functioning as a distinctive terminal feature with a pronounced plastered coving to the eaves and a three-light hipped dormer window set in the hipped roof, giving it a tower-like character.

Red brick chimneys are shared between the inner cottages, with Number 6 featuring a gable end stack. Number 1 has its own more elaborate chimney with four pots. Above the entrances to Numbers 3 and 4 stands a rubbed brick plaque inscribed "Room Cottages" set within a Classical surround.

Number 1 is accessed via a five-panel door beneath a moulded and bracketed flat hood. The entrance doors of the other cottages are partly glazed and set within modern porches, which represent 20th-century enclosure of what were originally open structures. All cottages have ground floor windows and, on Numbers 2 to 6, a wide first floor window above the entrance level.

Rear single-storey extensions with first-floor windows positioned just below the eaves and under hipped roofs are present. Back-to-back outhouses with hipped roofs, originally containing toilets, survive at the rear of the terrace. Some of these have later greenhouses or lean-tos attached, which are not of heritage significance.

Interior

The plan of Numbers 2 to 6 comprises three rooms on the ground floor—a front parlour with dining room and kitchen to the rear—and two bedrooms on the first floor. Number 1 contains four original rooms on the ground floor, with a 1983 rear addition, plus a bathroom and two further bedrooms in the eaves on the first floor.

Mid-20th-century alterations include the addition of a rear bathroom to Number 2, and the removal of the dividing wall in Number 6. Number 1 retains significant original fixtures and fittings, including the staircase, most interior doors, picture rails, skirting boards, some fireplace surrounds, and window furniture. Notable features include a rear door with panelled glass displaying lattice decoration, scalloped string and curved ceiling on the staircase, an angled ceiling in the bathroom, and exposed beams in the front dormer. Number 2 similarly preserves an original staircase, some interior doors, fireplace surrounds, picture rails, and skirting boards. Number 6 has been substantially altered with few original features remaining.

Historical Context

The 1901 census reveals that the cottages housed estate workers including a washerwoman, labourers, and a seamstress. Number 1, distinguished by its superior design, was occupied by a retired schoolteacher, a schoolmistress, and three foster children, reflecting its status as the principal dwelling within the group.

The terrace represents a rare surviving example of W.D Caröe's more modest domestic work in the Arts and Crafts tradition, and forms a significant part of Chilbolton's heritage alongside other buildings by the architect in the village. The group exemplifies late-19th-century purpose-built workers' housing designed with imaginative architectural attention, incorporating quality materials and sensitive siting on the village street.