Lilac Cottage And The Lilacs

Lilac Cottage and The Lilacs are a pair of semi-detached houses built in 1928, possibly by Petter and Warren. They feature concrete block cavity walls and a steel roof structure with a segmental section, which is clad in corrugated-iron sheets. The houses have a red brick axial stack and are two storeys high. The symmetrical south front has a wide segmental arch gable end with four windows. There are later 20th-century casements and doors on either side, with canopies; however, the right-hand doorway has been blocked and its canopy removed. At the rear, most of the original two-light wooden casements remain intact, complete with glazing bars, alongside later 20th-century glazed porches and conservatories on either side. The interior is largely intact, though the partition between the two main rooms of the left house has been removed. The original roof structure features T-section curved trusses and timber purlins. The design of these houses was inspired by the principles used by Lieutenant Colonel Nissen of the Royal Engineers in constructing First World War Nissen huts. Similar houses can be found in Barwick, Yeovil, West Camel in South Somerset District, and in Bampton in Mid Devon District.