Bergen-Op-Zoom Cottage

Bergen-op-Zoom Cottage

A timber-framed cottage dating from the late 17th or early 18th century, located on the edge of Horsebridge Common and appearing to be a commons encroachment. The building has been refenestrated during the 19th and 20th centuries and has a 20th-century outbuilding to the west.

Materials and Structure

The cottage is constructed mainly of timber-frame, except for the south front which is tile-hung over brick. The east side timber-frame is weatherboarded over a brick base, the west wall is rendered over the front and brick-clad to the rear, and the north outshot has a brick wall. The roof is pegtiled, hipped to the east and gabled to the west, with a catslide to the rear. An external brick chimneystack with English bond brickwork stands to the west, with a smaller external chimneystack in the outshot dating from the 20th century.

Plan and Layout

The cottage follows a two-bay end-chimneystack plan with two unequal-sized bays, a staircase at the north eastern end, and a rear outshot.

Exterior

The south front contains two irregularly-spaced 20th-century metal-framed casements; no doorcase survives on this elevation. The north side has two 19th-century wooden casements and an early 20th-century plank door.

Interior

Access is currently through the rear outshot into the kitchen, which contains a built-in early 20th-century wooden dresser and 1950s fittings, with a small bathroom at the eastern end of the outshot. The western ground floor room is the larger heated space and contains a large open fireplace with a chamfered wooden bressumer with run-out stops and an added plateshelf. The brickwork behind the fireplace has been renewed, but on the north side is a domed brick breadoven. The ceiling beams are rough hewn and of thin scantling, showing a pronounced list to the west. An original internal partition with a plank door separates this from the eastern room, which has similar ceiling beams but is unheated and features a plank door with pintle hinges to a cupboard space under the stairs. The staircase at the north east end is enclosed within an original timber-framed partition with wide boards. On the upper floor the timber frame is visible on the north, east and west sides, with the wallplate visible on the south wall. An original partition divides the two rooms, featuring jowled posts and angled queen struts, with three plank doors. The upper part of the outshot has rough beams, purlin, angled queen struts and some wide floorboards.

Historical Context

The earliest known document describing this cottage dates to 1732, signed and sealed by the Duke of Norfolk, indicating it was owned by the Norfolk estate at that time. The cottage appears on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1875 with a long and narrow outbuilding attached to the west, a profile that remained unchanged on the 1897 map. On the 1911 Ordnance Survey map the property is identified by its current name. The unusual name may derive from occupation during the mid-19th century by a Dutch engineer involved in improving navigation and wharfage on the nearby River Adur, who named it after his home town. An alternative theory suggests it could have been named after a battle in which an occupant took part, either the first battle of Bergen-op-Zoom (19 September 1799, won by the French during the French Revolutionary Wars) or the second battle (2 October 1799, won by the British and Russians). The current outbuilding to the west replaced an earlier outbuilding and dates from the 20th century. The building remained in the same ownership from the 1950s until inspection in 2008.