Shapcott Cottage Whitnage Chart

Shapcott Cottage and Whitnage Chart are two cottages dating from the mid to late 17th century. They are constructed from plastered stone rubble, possibly with some cob, and feature stone rubble stacks topped with 20th-century brick. The cottages are aligned along the lane, facing north, with Whitnage Chart on the left (eastern) side. Whitnage Chart has a two-room layout, with the larger right room containing an axial stack that backs onto the unheated left room. A newel stair rises next to the fireplace, and there is a 20th-century service outshot at the rear of the left room. Shapcott Cottage, on the right (western) side, has a one-room plan with a gable-end stack. Although Shapcott Cottage was not inspected during the survey, it is likely that it and the main room of Whitnage Chart are contemporary one-room cottages, each mirroring the other. The second room of Whitnage Chart appears to be contemporary as well, but it may have originally served as an agricultural or storage space.

The cottages are two storeys tall and feature an irregular three-window front. The three first-floor windows and the ground-floor window at the right end are original oak-framed windows with flat-faced mullions, containing rectangular panes of leaded glass and ornate wrought iron casements. The other windows are 20th-century casements with glazing bars. The doorways of the cottages are adjacent to each other and both have 20th-century part-glazed doors. The roof is gable-ended.

Inside, only Whitnage Chart was available for inspection. In the main room, the oak lintel of the stone rubble fireplace and the axial beam are both soffit-chamfered with scroll stops. The second room features an unstopped soffit-chamfered axial beam. The roof space was inaccessible, but the bases of straight principals indicate that the roof retains its original 17th-century A-frame trusses.