Manor Cottage

Manor Cottage is a timber-framed house with brick infill, currently the earliest known two-and-a-half-storey rural house in Surrey. Dendrochronology has dated the front range to a felling date of 1588–89, making it a high-status building for its time. A brick rear outshot was added in the 17th century, the first floor ceiling height was raised in the late 18th century, and in the late 19th century the windows were altered and a porch added. The building underwent restoration in 2007.

The main range is timber-framed with brick infill, part of which is now covered in lime render. The outshot is of brick in Flemish bond. The roof is a hipped, renewed tiled roof with brick chimneystacks. There is a ribbed off-central four-flue original chimneystack and two 19th-century chimneystacks added at the north-east end.

The building is a four-bay, two-storey and attics lobby entry house with off-central chimneystack and stairs behind. A rear outshot was added, with the south part raised to form a two-storey wing. The first floor storey height of the two original bays to the north was later raised.

The north-west or street front has exposed small panel timber framing with brick infill, part covered in lime render. There is an off-central hipped 19th-century dormer with tripartite window and wooden bargeboards. To the south-west is a late 19th-century two-storey four-light canted bay. The ground floor has a north-west tripartite casement and a large off-central late 19th-century gabled porch with eclectic framing to the gable, glazing and 20th-century glazed door. The north-east side has timber framing with painted brick infill exposed each side of the central external chimneystack. Clasping the base of the chimneystack are two 19th-century bay windows with hipped tiled roofs. The south-west elevation has a catslide roof with 19th-century Flemish bond brown brick walls, a gabled dormer and two tile-hung hipped gables. The remainder of the south-east side and the whole of the south-west side are obscured by adjoining properties not included in this listing.

Interior

The front range has three rooms to each floor. The north-west ground floor room retains the beam to the original internal partition, though this wall was later repositioned further south. Exposed floor joists were once plastered, retaining nail holes and marks of wet plaster. At one time there was additional ladder access to the upper floor in the north-west corner. The central room has a spine beam with one-and-a-half-inch chamfer and square-section floor joists, once plastered. The brick open fireplace has a late 18th-century moulded timber mantelpiece and an alcove wooden seat on one side. The south-west end room has a wider open fireplace with wooden bressumer with one-and-a-half-inch chamfer, a wooden seat and an alcove in which were found personal objects deposited in the late 18th century to prevent evil entering the house down the chimney. The brickwork of the rear wall of the fireplace retains two fixing points for a fire crane. The outshot has traces of a wallplate and an upright post.

A 19th-century staircase with stick balusters and chamfered newelpost is situated in the original position behind the central chimneystack. The north-east bedroom has a tie beam and part of a midrail with curved braces exposed in the end wall, and a 19th-century moulded wooden fireplace. The ceiling has been heightened. The corridor has some late 18th-century softwood panelling with a dado rail, a two-panel door and an interrupted wallplate. The central bedroom has a tie beam visible with a heightened spine beam with one-and-a-half-inch chamfer and lamb's tongue stop. The south-west room has a late 16th-century fireplace with wooden bressumer. Some ceiling joists are visible but were formerly covered in lath and plaster, and there is a lath and plaster partition to one side of the fireplace. A section of the rear wall is visible with curved brace and midrail.

The attics have a south-west wall with queenposts, purlins and diagonal braces. The top of the central chimneystack is visible and internal partitions survive. The north-east end room has a plank door, tie beam, purlins with diagonal braces and old floorboards.

History

In 1634 the house was part of the manor of East Betchworth and is shown on a map of that date together with a barn which stood to the north. At that date Alse (Alice) Lucas held the copyhold. In the 1662 Hearth Returns this was one of three properties out of 56 in Betchworth which had four hearths; only five had more. An apotropaic offering—personal objects deposited to ward off evil influence—discovered in the southern inglenook is thought to date from the late 18th century. By the time of the Tithe Map of 1843 the house had been divided into two, one on each side of the fireplace, explaining the added trimmers for a staircase to the north-west corner. Census returns provide the names of occupants: the northern part was occupied by William Batchelor from 1843–71, and members of the Dod family lived in the southern part from 1841 to the 1860s, though by 1871 it was occupied by a gardener named George Poplett. By the 1880s the house was called "The Meadows". It was refurbished in the late 19th century and incorporated into a larger house built between 1896 and 1914 (as seen on 2nd and 3rd edition Ordnance Survey maps) as the servants' quarters, with a porch added to the front. Canadian soldiers were billeted here during the First World War. In 1950 the large house was split into four properties, Manor Cottage returning to almost its original footprint. It was restored in 2007.