Tucking Mill Cottage

This is a late 18th-century Gothick-style detached cottage located in South Stoke. The exterior is ashlar with a hipped slate roof and a moulded cornice. The cottage is two storeys high, with three bays and end pilaster strips. It features glazing bar sash windows with pointed Gothick-style heads, set within raised, plain stone surrounds, and a plain band above the ground floor. The central entrance has a six-panel door with a pointed overlight, also in a raised, plain stone surround. A lattice porch with pointed tracery is positioned above the door. To the right of the door are two marble tablets set within a freestone frame. The upper tablet commemorates William Smith, "Father of English Geology," born March 23, 1769 and died August 28, 1839. The lower tablet notes the re-erection of the cottage in 1932 by The Geological Society of London and The Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Association. However, documentary evidence indicates that William Smith’s brother actually occupied this house; William Smith himself resided at Tucking Mill House.