Hensleigh Cottage

TIVERTON

SS91SW HENSLEIGH 848-1/4/85 Hensleigh Cottage 14/12/72 (Formerly Listed as: LONGDRAG HILL Hensleigh Cottage)

GV II

Estate house, possibly built as a dower house. Early/mid C18, remodelled early/mid C19. MATERIALS: incised stucco and render; dry slate hipped roof; rendered stacks, each stack with 4 old square clay pots: 2 lateral rear stacks and an axial stack central to rear wing. PLAN: original plan with 2-rooms at the front flanking a central entrance leading to stair hall within a rear wing at right angles, plus rear outshut on the right; extended by 1-room plan rear of this, probably mid C19, and by small wing at right angles to this, probably later C19; there is a C20 conservatory opposite this, left of the main wing. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys; symmetrical 5-window front. Late C19 4-pane hornless sashes within moulded architraves, the sashes set flush with the wall surface (as are the other windows). Central doorway with original doorcase with Tuscan pilasters and open pediment; cobweb fanlight over original fielded panelled door. In front of the doorway is a C19 Tuscan porch with the sides of muntin and plank construction (compare Lower Bradley Farmhouse qv). Left-hand return has a late C19 canted bay; 4-window-range elevation of wing set back left of this has some early and mid C19 12-pane sashes, some with small horns. There are more early and mid C19 sashes and casements lighting the rear outshut and right-hand wall of wing, and there is another original door with fielded panels into the wing near the angle. INTERIOR: original panelled right-hand room with fielded panels and moulded cornice, doorcases, panelled doors, elliptical-arched niche and chimneypiece; original oak dog-leg staircase with turned balusters, ramped handrail and panelled newels. There are also some good early and mid C19 features including: panelled window shutters with inner beads and moulded plaster ceiling cornice to left-hand room and moulded cornice and panelled shutters to room behind. Bay window to front left-hand room has vertically-sliding shutters. Service stair at rear is mid/late C19 with stick balusters. Hensleigh Cottage is particularly notable for its C18 panelled room and staircase, also, the design feature of having the windows flush with the wall surface is a rare survival of C17 and early C18 practice (compare Hensleigh Farmhouse qv).

Listing NGR: SS9395412654