Foster Cottage

Foster Cottage, Ashford Road, Bethersden

A cottage of 18th-century date, refenestrated and given a porch in the early 20th century. An early 21st-century conservatory to the south-west is not of special interest.

The building is constructed of red brick with some grey and yellow headers. The south-east and south-west elevations are laid in Flemish bond, while the north-east and north-west elevations use English bond. The upper floor is timber framed, clad in weatherboarding except for the north-east elevation which is tiled. The roof is gabled and tiled with a catslide to the rear. A large external brick chimneystack stands to the north-east, mainly in stretcher bond with tiling towards the base.

The plan is that of a two-bay end-chimneystack house of two storeys with an integral rear single-storey outshot, later modified by the addition of a porch. The ground floor contains two unequal-sized rooms plus the outshut; the first floor has two unequal-sized rooms.

The south-east (front) elevation features two tripartite early 20th-century wooden casements. The right-side ground floor window is a canted bay with a penticed tiled roof supported on wooden brackets. The central porch, dating to the late 19th or early 20th century, is built of brick with a penticed tiled roof, beaded plank door, and fixed casement side-lights. A Bethersden marble path leads from the front door southwards. The north-west elevation has a tile-hung first floor and no windows. The south-west elevation has an early 20th-century casement window on each floor; a second external brick chimneystack was recently removed from this elevation, and the northern part of the ground floor has been removed, now largely obscured by the later conservatory. The north-west side is of English bond brickwork with two 19th-century casements.

The front door opens into a narrow staircase hall with ledged plank doors leading to the two ground floor rooms. The larger north room has an open fireplace with brick surround and wooden bressumer, an unchamfered spine beam, and floor joists of thin timber scantling that bear marks of wet plaster, indicating they were originally ceiled over. A further ledged and braced door in the west wall leads to the outshot. The smaller south room has a spine beam of reused timber and similar ceiling joists to the north room. The rear outshot has an old tiled floor and part of the timber-framed south-west wall with lath and plaster infilling was visible. The straight-flight staircase has plank dado panelling, with three plank doors at its head; the central door leads to a cupboard. Both bedrooms have exposed ceiling beams of thin timber scantling. The larger north bedroom has a large cupboard to the south-east with a latched plank door hung on pintle hinges. The roof space was not inspected.

Within living memory, Foster Cottage was in the same ownership as Potten Farmhouse, which originally adjoined to the north but is now separated by another property. It appears on the 1871 First Edition Ordnance Survey map for Bethersden without a porch.