1, 1A, 2 and 2A, East Street

A terrace of two houses, later converted into four flats, was built in 1862 for the Great Western Railway Company. These cottages formed part of a village designed by I.K. Brunel to house workers for the Great Western Railway works, located to the south of the railway line. Construction began in 1842 and continued into the 1850s, with these particular cottages being built between 1862 and 1865. The cottages are constructed of ashlar limestone, with white putty mortar, and have rendered brick rear walls. The roofs are slate, with blue brick stacks set on the party walls. The two-storey building has nine bays, with entrances in the third and seventh bays. These entrances feature glazed doors within chamfered surrounds, and are sheltered by bracketed canopies. There is a rear entrance in the fifth bay, beneath a pointed segmental, chamfered arch. The building has shouldered gables on the third, fifth, and seventh bays, as well as on the two-bay returns. The windows are casement windows with sixteen panes, and there are single-light windows above the openings. The cottages were extensively renovated around 1974. The village is notable as one of Britain’s best-preserved and most architecturally ambitious railway settlements.