Ashby Cottage

Ashby Cottage, Donnington

A house dating to around 1830, built onto part of an earlier farm building with a 1929 extension added. It is believed to have been built by Charles Fogden, a master carpenter. The building is constructed of knapped flint with red brick dressings, rendered cement and slate.

The house contains three rooms on each floor. The single-storey farm building to the rear has been divided into several units, and a 1929 garage extension to one side of the original house provides extra first floor rooms above the parking area.

The façade is of knapped galetted flint with red brick dressings and quoins. A rendered garage extension was added to the north side. The hipped roof is of slate with a four-pot chimney at its south end, steeper and tiled at the north end above the garage extension. Doors and windows have segmental arches, except those on the garage extension. The right (south) side of the façade features a shallow two-storey bow with sash window above part-glazed doors. The front door is panelled with a curved transom. Doors and windows are set into the walls with substantial brick reveals, and the roof above the bow segment is set in a fan shape to correspond to the bow below. At each end of the front of the main part of the house are two substantial walls of knapped galetted flint with red brick dressings, designed to support a verandah to first floor level.

The rear (east side) incorporates the earlier farm building, which is single-storey, of brick and flint with string courses of random red and grey brick and brick dressings. There is a round arched doorway and two tall red brick chimneys above the eaves, and to the south a further doorway. The rear of the main house and garage is rendered with arched sash windows set in regular openings.

The south end is cement rendered, incised to resemble stone, with small casement windows at ground and first floor levels and a French door with a 1950s copper pagoda-like awning. The north end comprises the garage and part of the original house, with rendered finish and two 3/4 sash windows in the main part, one at ground and one at first floor level, arched but in regular openings with reveals and ledges.

Original interior features survive including windows, ceilings, the staircase and fireplaces. The drawing room contains the most elaborate features, including bow-fronted French doors opening to the front with an elaborate splayed and panelled wood surround. The glazing bars are original, though the glass was replaced after World War II. The ceiling cornice has a leaf motif, and the fireplace has an original sandstone surround with moulded jambs and mantelpiece. The fire grate is Victorian. The door to the verandah is modern.

The doors and staircase in the hall are original features. The panelled front door has a substantial moulded pine surround with lion head corner recesses. The door to the drawing room and dining room are similarly panelled. The open-string staircase has original straight balusters, two per stair, and a banister rail of oval cross section. The dining room fireplace is similar to that in the drawing room, but the hearth was reconstructed in 1948 with a free standing modern basket grate. The French door to the garden is modern. A cellar is located under the drawing room, accessed from a door under the stairs.

On the first floor, the landing which faces the front has an alcove with a Georgian style sash window. The main bedroom has a bow window with elaborate wooden surround corresponding to that in the drawing room below but of simpler form, and an original fireplace. The second bedroom, facing the rear, is original with no special features. The third bedroom, above the larder, is accessed via panelled twin doors of curved design. The fourth bedroom, above the garage, is modern with modern sash windows.

The former farm building at the rear comprises a study, kitchen area, toilet and workshop. The kitchen area has large fireplaces and a roof hook indicating agricultural use. The floors in these sections are paved.

Research suggests that the rear wall was part of a farmyard piggery. Charles Fogden, a master carpenter, bought the property in 1820 and built the house onto the farm building as a showroom for his carpentry skills for clients in Chichester and the surrounding area. Ashby Cottage dates to between 1820 and 1830. Changes including the addition of the garage and rendering to the south gable end are thought to have taken place in 1929 when the building was refurbished.