East Rillaton Cottage and West Rillaton Cottage

East Rillaton Cottage and West Rillaton Cottage

A dwelling constructed in 1599, extended in the early 17th century and subsequently. The building is listed at Grade II.

The cottages are constructed of granite with an internal oak structural frame, slate floors, and roofs covered in slate. The principal elevation is clad in Cornish slate hung over the granite. Window frames are modern timber or uPVC replacements.

The plan comprises a single-depth, three-bay main range with a later longhouse cross-wing extending to the north-east and a shorter cross-wing range to the north-west, forming a U-shaped layout. The space between these wings is infilled with a third, narrower cross-wing range. Out-shut extensions extend to the rear.

The principal elevation presents as a two-storey structure with three bays, a central door, and openings to either side and above. A reset date stone of 1599 is set above the doorway. The roof to the right has a low hip with a narrow rendered stack; to the left it is gabled with a stone stack.

The east flank (East Rillaton Cottage) displays a long elevation of varying dates constructed in painted rubble stone with an informal arrangement of openings, including two entrances. Opening surrounds are brick, with granite or wood lintels. The earliest phase, in the left bay, has no openings. Rear elevations follow varied building lines reflecting the multi-layered evolution. The left bay is the gabled end of the longhouse extension, with three window openings and a wide farmhouse door set in a lean-to extension attached to the north elevation. This lean-to adjoins an out-shut attached to the rear of West Rillaton Cottage. The out-shut has a hipped roof to the left beneath a large stone chimney with offsets and a stair window. To the right, the out-shut forms a cat-slide around an attic window in a gabled end. Attached to the west is a single-storey kitchen extension of mainly late 20th-century date. The west flank of the original range (West Rillaton Cottage) has no openings, though there is a door opening altered to form a window and a small upper storey window.

Interior

Both floors display varying levels reflecting the different construction phases and rising ground. Most ground-floor rooms are laid with slate or granite slabs; the first floor is covered with floorboards of varying dates. East Rillaton has a stair probably of 18th-century date, which has been altered and enclosed later. West Rillaton's stair is of 21st-century date. The roof structure of West Rillaton has principals of late 16th and 17th-century date and replaced rafters. The main range has three chamfered trusses with arched collars lap-jointed into the trusses. Much of the East Rillaton roof structure is of 20th-century date, though the area above the original range was not inspected. Both cottages have large granite inglenooks—one in East Rillaton and two in West Rillaton. A number of granite ledges above fireplaces are built into the walls of both buildings.

The front room of East Rillaton Cottage contains ornate 16th-century plasterwork: a hand-carved cornice of small acanthus leaves with a spray of acanthus leaves and lilies to each corner, and a hand-carved ceiling design of a sheaf of corn decorated for harvest, surrounded by wheat heads. The deeply-set window in this room has rebated shutters and panelling. Other parts display exposed and covered timber beams and posts. The first floor has a visible stone rail running the length of the longhouse range at eaves level. The chimney breast at the north end bears three impressions in the plaster, possibly left by musket balls in the 17th century. Some internal walls are constructed of lathe and hair plaster.

The ground-floor ceiling of West Rillaton displays exposed timbers, some altered, many with unstopped beams. Chamfering and stopping are more consistent at first-floor level. A heavy timber is inserted in the ground-floor ceiling at the north-west corner of the original range. The rear wall curves significantly.

Subsidiary Features

The front gardens have granite boundary walling incorporating a mounting block and wellhead, both granite, at West Rillaton Cottage. The rear wall behind East Rillaton Cottage has a small niche with fire grate. A granite cider press lies in the rear garden of East Rillaton, found in situ, possibly among below-ground remains of a cider barn.