Cotman House

Cotman House is a house with origins in the 16th and 17th centuries, partly rebuilt after a fire in 1721. It is situated in Shenington with Alkerton. The garden front is constructed of ironstone ashlar, with coursed ironstone rubble to the sides. The steeply pitched stone slate roof is laid to diminishing courses, and has stone coped gables with moulded kneelers. Renewed brick ridge stacks are present, along with brick and stone end stacks to the rear ranges, one of which has a brick stack on a stone base. The house comprises a 2-unit early 18th-century front range with a 2-unit service wing to the rear, a gabled staircase projection, and a lower gabled section, creating an overall L-shaped plan. The house has two storeys and an attic with a 3-window front. The approximately central entrance has a panelled and glazed door flanked by paired sash windows with glazing bars and wood lintels. The first floor has three 3-light windows with opening casements, and there are three 2-light roof dormers. A Sun Alliance fire plaque is set into the lintel of a first-floor window. The rear includes a gabled staircase projection with 2-light windows with wood lintels, a 19th-century round-headed window, and a 2-light window high up with lead cames and crown glass. The right end displays the service wing, showing sections of differing heights, with a 4-panelled door and a 3-light casement on the ground floor, and a 16-pane sash window and roof dormer to the first floor. A 2-light window on the ground floor and a 3-light window to the first floor are also present, both with wood lintels. The interior of the early 18th-century front range features two principal rooms divided by an entrance hall, and these rooms contain marble fireplaces, boxed beams, and pine fittings. The kitchen has a wide stone fireplace with a stop-chamfered bressumer and pine cupboards with H hinges. An old service room retains a stop-chamfered beam, a wide fireplace with a stop-chamfered bressumer, a bread oven, and a housing for a copper. There are two small wood mullioned windows with wooden shutters used for ventilation. A stone spiral staircase to the cellar has a pine door with a double hinge device. Other features include 2-light stone mullioned windows with reset ovolo mullions and one with a 13th-century style head, a vaulted stone ceiling and stone pitchings, 2-panelled and 4-panelled doors, pine cupboards with H and L shaped iron hinges, and a 3-bay butt purlin roof. Stone flag floors and wide floor boards are throughout the house.