Coxen, Long Orchard

House. Built in 1911 by Ernest Gimson for Basil Young, with the service block and kitchen rearranged and modernised around 1980. The house is constructed of plastered cob on stone rubble footings and internal walls of solid brick, with stone rubble and brick stacks featuring tall stone ashlar chimney shafts, and a thatched roof.

This is a Vernacular Revival Arts and Crafts Movement house with an irregular plan facing west. It comprises a three-room main block, a single-room rear block at a right angle near the southern end, and a service block—originally a wood and coal store, later converted to a kitchen around 1980—at a right angle in front of the northern end. The original kitchen was the northern room of the main block. Stacks are situated between the main and service wing, between the main and rear block, and the rear block has a projecting end stack.

The main block is two storeys with attics; the rear block is two storeys; and the service wing is single-storey with attics. The front elevation is nearly symmetrical with two windows. All windows are timber-framed casements with slender mullions containing rectangular panes of leaded glass, larger on the ground floor. First-floor windows are half dormers, and attic windows are small, flat-topped dormers with a steeply rising thatch. A central Tudor-style panelled door is flanked by a tiny single-light window above. All blocks have gable ends, with tall roofs of steep pitch. The inner face of the lower service wing has two casements with thatch eyebrows above and a stable-type door to the left.

The rear elevations are in the same style as the front, featuring a slate hood over the rear doorway, positioned across the angle of the main and rear blocks.

Original timber gutters are supported by slender wrought iron brackets around the house. The interior reflects local vernacular traditions, with exposed carpentry and joinery details. Extending from the end of the service block is a tall plastered wall with thatch coping, curving forward to terminate in an octagonal pavilion with a conical thatched roof.

This is a particularly fine example of a Vernacular Revival style house from the Arts and Crafts Movement, built using local craftsmen who were encouraged to revive traditional skills. Notably, it remains the only Gimson house retaining its thatch. Gimson’s furniture was removed in the 1960s.