Knole Cottage

Knole Cottage, Borough Green

Cottage, circa 1700, with an early 19th-century rear roof extension. The building was refenestrated in the 20th century and has an added porch and conservatory which are not of special interest.

The cottage is mainly built of brick in Flemish bond, now painted, though the upper floor of the south elevation is hung with pointed tiles. It has a Kentish ragstone plinth with limestone chip galleting that extends downwards into a stone cellar. A gabled tiled roof with a brick chimneystack at the eastern end covers two storeys and attics, with cellar beneath. The front elevation has two windows.

The building is a two-bay end-chimneystack house with a rear outshot, part of which was later extended upwards. All windows have been replaced by uPVC casements within the original openings.

The north or entrance front features a central hipped dormer. Two windows occupy each floor, with cambered openings to the ground floor. A central 20th-century porch with brick plinth and penticed tiled roof masks an early 19th-century six-panelled door with the top two panels glazed. The east and west walls have been strengthened with painted breezeblocks, though the brickwork remains visible internally on the west wall. The south side originally had a catslide roof to an outshot of painted brick. A further storey was later added to the western end, hung with pointed tiles on the first floor but rendered to the east and west beneath a gabled roof. The north side retains the catslide roof to its eastern part with a 19th-century gabled dormer, while the ground floor features a four-light window now obscured by a 20th-century conservatory. A gabled outbuilding, rendered with tiled roof, is attached to the ground floor.

Internally, one large front room stretches the width of the building on the ground floor. The eastern wall contains an open fireplace with wooden bressumer, spice hole, and integral side seats, with a cupboard beside it. The east wall displays exposed brickwork in Flemish bond. The ceiling has axial beams with a very narrow chamfer and straight floor joists which would originally have been concealed by lath and plaster, marks of which remain. The south wall has a partition wall with diagonal bracing, and similar partitions enclose the staircase on two sides around the south-western corner. This staircase is approached by a 17th-century plank door with iron hinges. The partition walls and staircase underside contain reused jowled posts. A four-panelled door leads to the rear ground floor room, which has a blocked rear fireplace.

An original winder staircase ascends to the first floor, with stick balustrading to the landing. The north-west bedroom was probably the principal bedroom, being heated and fitted with an 18th or early 19th-century wooden fireplace, axial beam, wide deal floorboards, and a ledged plank door with handmade iron hinges. The north-west bedroom has a ledged plank door with a square section cut out near the top. The south bedroom retains a partition wall with diagonal braces and a two-panelled door in a moulded architrave. A further wooden winder staircase leads to the attic above the northern range only, comprising a single boarded-over attic room. The roof structure is not visible but likely contains purlins.

A stone winder staircase descends to the cellar beneath the northern part of the building. It features a brick relieving arch on the east wall directly under the open fireplace and small alcoves in the western and southern walls, probably used for placing a lantern.

The building appears on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map surveyed in 1867 and 1869 with its current footprint and path. On this map and all subsequent revisions through 1936, it is shown adjoining other buildings to the west, but now stands free-standing. It was once the end cottage of a row, the remainder having been demolished in the 20th century. However, given that the adjoining properties were narrower, it is possible the cottage was originally built as a freestanding house with the other properties added later.

The cottage is listed for its special architectural interest as an early 18th-century two-bay end-chimneystack house with a stone cellar and catslide outshot to the rear, partially heightened in the 19th century. The intact plan form and original internal features remain substantially intact. Although unsympathetic late 20th-century window replacements affect its character, the substantial survival of early fabric and plan form in this small early 18th-century cottage is of special interest.