No.5 and 6 Townsend Cottages and Rose Cottage

A row of three cottages, originally four, likely dating from the late 18th or early 19th century, is situated in Chittlehampton. The cottages are constructed of rendered stone rubble and some cob, with a continuous slate roof featuring gable ends. Brick stacks are prominent, including a ridge stack to Rose Cottage with dentilated detail around the capping, end stacks to the two right-hand cottages, and a rendered stack to the rear left-hand room of No. 5, which is enclosed by an outshut.

Nos. 5 and 6 appear as an integral build; No. 6 being smaller with direct entry into the main room. No. 5 has a two-room plan with a central passage, the left-hand room heated by a rear stack and the right-hand room by a gable end stack. Both cottages feature staircases and kitchen sculleries housed within rear outshuts, while Rose Cottage represents the amalgamation of what were originally two cottages (Nos. 7 and 8) and has an outshut to the rear of the right-hand bay.

The cottages exhibit an eight-window range of 19th-century fenestration. No. 5 has a symmetrical three-window facade with two-light casements containing six panes per light, and a central plank door with glazed upper panels. No. 6 features two-light casements with eight panes per light on each floor to the left of an identical door. Rose Cottage has six-paned two-light casements to the first floor and eight-paned two-light casements to the ground floor, to the left of a 20th-century gabled slate porch roof and a four-panelled door with glazed upper panels. A straight joint indicates that Rose Cottage, originally two cottages, may be slightly earlier in construction than Nos. 5 and 6 and was possibly originally a pair of mirror-image cottages with direct entry into a single principal room. A small lean-to extension is present to the rear of the end bay of Rose Cottage, along with a two-level outshut housing a kitchen and a lower-level room.

During an inspection of Rose Cottage, a cross beam was found in each of the ground floor principal rooms. The stone fireplace of the principal room accessible via the entrance door retains a Georgian timber surround, whereas the fireplace in the other principal room has been rebuilt in the 20th century. First floor timbers, including purlins, principal trusses, and collar beams, indicate the survival of an 18th century collar truss roof structure.