Playbrook Cottage

DUNSFORD SX 88 NW

6/18 Playbrook Cottage

27.2.84 II

House. Circa early C16 origins, remodelling of the circa early C17, C20 renovations. Whitewashed rendered cob on stone rubble footings, water reed thatched roof gabled at left end, half-hipped at right end. Projecting left end stack with oven, axial cob stack with granite shaft with capping and projecting oven on the front elevation, rear right stack probably a modern addition. The present plan is single depth, 4-rooms wide with a small additional room at the right (higher) end. The core of the house is a late medieval open hall which was remodelled in the circa early C17 as a 3 room and cross passage plan with the hall stack backing on to the passage and a small unheated inner room. The lower (left- hand) end has been rebuilt and extended, originally probably in the C18 which may have removed the passage. In the C20 the cob wall which marked the left-hand end of the open hall has been replaced at ground floor level by a steel, girder. 2 storeys. Irregular 6-window front with the eaves thatch eyebrowed over 5 first floor windows and a gabled slated porch with a C20 plank door on the front to the left. Various steel casements in small 4-pane or larger 2-light 12-pane form, one very small 4-pane over the porch and a second small light, ground floor to the right of the door. C20 glazed door on extreme right. Projecting bread oven with slated top to right of front door. Interior The C17 hall has an open fireplace with stone rubble jambs and a chamfered cross beam with ogee stops. The inner end of the hall has a plank and muntin oak screen, the muntins chamfered and stopped on the hall side, with a square-headed doorway with chamfered jambs and step stops. The rear of the screen has been faced with imported C18 panelling. It is not entirely clear whether the screen is in its original position. A late C20 granite staircase in the centre left room replaces a newel stair which was formerly adjacent to the hall stack. The left-hand room has a chamfered cross beam and open fireplace with a chamfered lintel with a narrow chamfer and stops. The medieval truss over the right-hand end is a jointed cruck with a cambered collar mortised into the principals which are mortised at the apex with a diagonally-set ridge. Smoke-blackening survives on the cruck, rafters, ridge, battens and thatch. The principals of the left-hand truss of the house are rough- hewn, apex not visible. Playbrook was divided into 2 cottages at one time. An attractive thatched house of medieval origins with a picturesquely irregular front elevation.

Listing NGR: SX8333787484