Old School Cottages

TQ 64 NW CAPEL TUDELEY LANE

1/308 Nos 1, 2 and 3 Old School Cottages

GV II

Row of 3 estate cottages, formerly a farmhouse. Late C17 (there is a date of 1696 inscribed inside), probably divided in the C19, some C20 modernisation. Timber-framed, the ground floor is underbuilt with various builds of red brick (for instance, the front of No 1 includes noticeably more burnt headers than the rest), above the framing is hung with peg-tile; the south west end stack is coursed blocks of sandstone, the others are red brick, brick chimneyshafts; peg-tile roof.

Plan: L-plan building. The main block faces south south west, say south, and is set back from the road. It has a 3-room plan, each belonging to a separate cottage numbering 1-3 from left to right (west to east). No 1 is a one-room plan cottage with a projecting gable-end stack (added in the C19) and end entry. The centre room (No 2) has a rear lateral stack and the left end part of the room has been divided off as an entrance hall and staircase. Kitchen in a C19 rear block. The right end room (No 3) has a large projecting gable- end stack and has lower rear service block projecting to rear.

The main block was built as a late C17 farmhouse. It has a 3-room plan. The left end room was originally an unheated service room (possibly with a passage). The centre room was the kitchen and the right end room was the parlour. The rear service block may be original.

2 storeys.

Exterior: Regular but symmetrical 4-window front of C19 and C20 casements with glazing bars. All doorways contain C20 plank doors. The roof is gable- ended. The right (east) end stack is large and impressive; built of coursed blocks of sandstone with tiled weathered offsets.

Interior: Most rooms, both ground and first floor have chamfered and scroll- stopped axial beams. They are boxed in in No 3. The centre room fireplace (No 2) is large, built of brick with a chamfered oak lintel and includes a bread oven and cupboard alcove. A small fireplace to the chamber above is blocked although its oak lintel is exposed. The end fireplace (in No 3) is blocked although its oak lintel is exposed; it is chamfered with a low Tudor arch. The framed walls are plastered over except for a section of a stud in the centre room (between Nos 2 and 3). It is inscribed with the date 1696 and the initals I and MG and D and FG along with some scrolled decoration. Main block roof of tie-beam trusses with A-frames and butt purlins.

Listing NGR: TQ6199445550