Memorial Cottages With Attached Outbuildings And Garden Walls

KELMSCOTT SU2499-2599 10/80 Nos.1 and 2, Memorial Cottages with attached outbuildings and 12.9.55 garden walls (Formerly listed as Morris Cottages) GV II*

Pair of cottages. 1902 by Philip Webb for Jane Morris in memory of William Morris. Uncoursed limestone rubble with ashlar dressings; stone slate roof with coped verges to front gable. T-plan; Vernacular Revival style. 2 storeys and attic. Ground floor has 4 segmental-headed 2-light leaded mullion windows with small segmental-headed leaded window to right. 3 grouped openings to centre on first floor, middle with plaque depicting William Morris (see below) and outer with 2-light leaded mullion windows, all linked by continuous hoodmould. Narrow rectangular leaded windows to either side. 2 narrow round-headed windows near top of gable. Internal end stack to gable and similar ridge stack to projecting rear range; integral stacks to rear left and right corners with diagonal shafts, all stacks with moulded capping. All gables except front are roughcast to apex with wooden dripmoulds, rear with twin narrow recessed leaded windows directly above. This gable also has 2 narrow top-hung leaded casements on first floor and paired round-headed openings with recessed 3-light leaded mullion windows to ground floor. Entrances to gable ends; moulded segmental-headed outer arches with dripstones over recessed plank doors with strap hinges; round-headed alcoves to sides. Projecting outbuildings in angles to rear are enclosed by rubblestone walls with rounded coping. Roughly coursed rubblestone garden wall with rounded coping to front has semi-circular bases for former pumps adjoining section attached to and dividing cottages. Plaque depicting Morris is by George Jack based on a drawing by Philip Webb. Morris is depicted seated with a hat, satchel and stick to his side and facing a cockerel; trees and farmbuildings in background. Interior. No.2 (left cottage) only inspected: front room has built-in larder to left forner and folding window shutters with strap hinges. Dog-leg winder staircase with stick balusters, square and rectangular newels has sweeping ramped dado similar to those in Nos.1 and 4, Manor Cottages (q.v.) immediately to east. Inset plank wall cupboards and corner fireplaces throughout. Ladder staircase from first floor to attic. The farmbuilding's shown in the Morris plaque are thought to be some of those at nearby Kelmscott Manor (q.v.). Graded II* as a complete and largely unaltered example of a pair of farmworkers' cottages built in memory of William Morris, who intermittently lived at Kelmscott Manor until his death in 1896. (Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, p667; A.R. Dufty: Kelmscott, An Illustrated Guide (London, The Society of Antiquaries, 1984), p3iJ) [2375]

Listing NGR: SU2498699018