Rothesay, Including Garden Wall To Right

Rothesay is an early 19th-century house, with later 19th-century alterations to the rear, possibly incorporating elements of an earlier 18th-century cottage. The house is built of whitewashed stuccoed cob and stone rubble, with a gabled, 2-span slate roof and end brick chimney stacks. The plan is double-depth, with two rooms wide, the principal rooms facing the front, one on either side of a central passage where the staircase is located to the rear. Rear first-floor rooms appear to have been enlarged in the mid-19th century, in a style compatible with the rest of the house. A substantial axial wall suggests a possible earlier single-depth cottage arrangement.

The exterior is very well-preserved and symmetrical, with three bays. A recessed panelled front door is centrally positioned, featuring a shallow elliptical fanlight with a Greek key frieze, reeded doorcase, and panelled reveals. Original timber sash windows are present; 12-pane to the first floor and 6 over 9-pane to the ground floor. Adjacent to the right end of the house is a ramped garden wall, included in the listing. The rear elevation features a round-headed stair window, sash windows, and an early 19th-century half-glazed rear door.

Inside, the house is well-preserved. A marbled chimney-piece remains in the ground floor room to the left, with segmental-headed recesses on either side of the fireplace. Original joinery features include shutters, good doors with intact door furniture – including reeded doorcases with rosettes – a half-glazed door in the passage with margin panes and stained glass, a stick baluster staircase with a ramped handrail and turned newel post. Rothesay is part of a row of houses on The Strand and is the best-preserved of that row. An early 20th-century photograph, held by the owner, demonstrates the presence of cast iron balconies to the first-floor windows and external shutters to the ground floor windows.