3 And 4, Westbury

Pair of estate cottages built in the 1820s or 1830s with 20th-century additions, located in Bradford Abbas.

The cottages are built in coursed local lias stone with ashlar dressings. They have a hipped slate roof and end stacks of stone with pairs of brick shafts set diagonally. The windows are inwardly opening metal casements with leaded glass, set within stone mullioned, flat-headed surrounds with a hood-mould and square labels over.

The building comprises a mirrored pair of two-storey semi-detached cottages arranged on a rectangular plan, with attached side ranges to the north and south that have been incorporated into the cottages. Both cottages have been extended in the 20th century with two-storey extensions and conservatories to the rear, and a single-storey addition has been added to the north side of the right-hand cottage (No. 4). These later additions are not of special interest.

The east-facing façade presents a symmetrical composition in Tudor style with four bays. Each cottage has a central entrance with a deep stone lintel featuring a four-centred arch and a vertical boarded door with strap hinges. Flanking the doors are two-light casements. A continuous stone string course runs across, with three matching windows to the first floor. The rear elevation is largely obscured by late 20th-century additions, though a mullioned window is visible to the first floor of the right-hand cottage.

The ground floor of each cottage originally comprised two rooms, but the dividing partition has been removed to create a single large room. Each retains a fireplace on the ground floor, though these have been rebuilt or renovated. The right-hand cottage retains its original winder stair; that to No. 3 has been replaced with a spiral staircase. The doors and other joinery are plain, and the first-floor fireplaces have been blocked. The roof comprises king post trusses with V struts and a single row of staggered purlins, and is pegged.

In the 19th century, large landowners built accommodation for their estate workers. Nos. 3-4 Westbury and its neighbour, Nos. 1-2 Westbury, form a group of identical pairs of estate cottages built in the early 19th century for the Marquis of Anglesey, who held the Bradford Abbas estate. They were constructed between 1825 and 1838 and first appear on a parish map dated 1838. The first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1888 shows both pairs of cottages situated within a large plot of approximately 1.4 hectares, subsequently marked as allotment gardens on the 1903 edition, though this has since been subdivided into individual gardens. The cottages remained part of the Bradford Abbas Estate until 1954.