White Cottage

White Cottage is a farmhouse, now a house, located in Calstock Metherell. The building dates to the early to mid-17th century, with additions from the later 17th century and further alterations made during the 19th and 20th centuries.

The exterior is constructed of painted stone rubble with a slate roof featuring 19th-century crested ridge tiles and gable ends. The building has three chimneys: a rear lateral stack to the left, an axial hall stack with a rubble shaft that is weathered with a shaped top, and a similar gable end stack to the right.

The original plan follows a 3-room and cross passage arrangement. The lower end room to the left was heated from the rear lateral stack and now has a 19th-century stair inserted at its left end. The hall to the right of the passage was probably originally open to the roof and is now heated from the axial stack backing onto the passage. The inner room at the far right is heated from the gable end stack. In the later 17th century, a stair tower was added to the rear of the hall, and a single-storey unheated outshut was also added to the rear of the hall, to the left of the stair tower. A fireplace dated 1704 was inserted in the chamber over the lower end, using the flue from the hall stack. Around the mid-19th century, the house was divided into two separate dwellings: the lower end and passage formed one house, whilst the hall and inner room became another, with a door inserted in the front of the hall. In the 20th century, a room was inserted in the rear of the passage.

The front elevation is asymmetrical with 2 storeys and 2 windows, all of which are 20th-century replacements. The passage has a 20th-century door with sidelight and a chamfered timber lintel with run-out stops. The lower end to the left has 2-light casements at ground and first floor. The hall to the right has a 20th-century window (formerly a door) and a 2-light casement, with a shallow hall bay—possibly originally gabled—containing a 2-light casement at ground floor and a 19th-century 2-light 6-pane casement at first floor in a raking dormer. At the right end is a small single light at first floor. The left end has a 19th-century inserted window at first floor with a 4-pane light and a blocked single light in a chamfered granite surround. At the rear, the inner room has a window at ground floor and a door at first floor; the latter retains a granite cill with stoolings for mullions, probably re-used. The rear of the hall features a stair tower with a pitched roof and a single light, and a single-storey outshut to the right with a 20th-century window. The rear of the passage is blocked with a 4-pane sash above. The lower end has a stack, probably inserted in the 19th century, with a 4-pane sash at ground floor.

The interior of the lower end room contains 5 large roughly hewn beams and a blocked window in the gable end, blocked when the staircase was inserted. The passage has a bathroom inserted to the rear. The hall features a large granite fireplace backing onto the passage with a cloam oven inserted to the right. The hall contains 5 large chamfered beams with bar and run-out stops. The door to the rear outshut has a chamfered and step-stopped lintel. The stair tower has a wooden 4-centred arch to the doorway, which is chamfered, and a stone newel stair. The inner room has a gable end fireplace with a cambered and chamfered timber lintel and a cloam oven inserted to the right. The first floor chamber at the lower end has a fireplace in the back of the stack, decorated with plaster voussoirs bearing the date 1704 and a fleur-de-lys.

At first floor, the wall between the hall and the inner room is inserted below a truss. The hall roof formerly had dovetailed collars with sockets for threaded purlins and appears smoke-blackened. The roof over the lower end retains 2 early trusses with very curved feet; these are not chamfered and formerly had threaded purlins and a threaded ridge purlin at the apex. The principals are halved and pegged at the apex, with one cambered collar and one straight collar, both halved and notched to the principals. The timbers appear to be sooted over both the lower end and the hall.