Wards Cottage

HIGH BICKINGTON SS 62 SW 5/88 Wards Cottage - II

House. C17, possibly a remodelling of an earlier house. Probably mid to late C19 alterations and additions. Rendered, probably over cob, partly rebuilt and extended in painted stone rubble. Gable-ended C20 machine-tile roof, probably formerly thatched. C20 clay tiles over rear outshut. Lateral stone stack to front with tall red brick shaft, and brick end stack to left. Plan and development: Former 3 room and cross/through passage plan (ground falls to right). Hall with full-height projecting square bay and external lateral stack to front, cross/through passage to right (no evidence of rear doorway noted at time of survey - December 1988), and former inner room to left (present kitchen) with integral end stack. The house is possibly a C17 remodelling of a late Medieval open- hall house. If this were the case along with the flooring at the hall the C17 alterations probably also included the demolition of the former service room to the right of the passage and the enlargement of the former inner room to the left of the hall, or the addition of this room if the Medieval plan did not include an inner room. Dairy (now bathroom) formed out of rear of passage, probably in the late C19. Further late C19 altertions included the insertion of a staircase at the rear of the hall and the addition of a continuous outshut at the rear. Two storeys and one- storey outshut. Exterior: Nearly symmetrical 3-window front; C19 two- and 3-light wooden casements. Full-height projecting bay to hall has external lateral stack to front with offset to very tall square C19 brick shaft. Doorway to right has C17 nail-studded plank door with wrought-iron strap hinges and C17 chamfered wooden frame with mason's mitred joints. Left-hand gable end has first-floor C19 four-pane fixed window to right, small C19 one-light wooden casement to left and ground-floor C20 two-light wooden casement (replacing former bread oven). Plank door to right. Continuous outshut at rear is open fronted to the rear of the hall. Interior: Hall has plastered walls and ceiling, and C19 matchboarded dado and stairs to rear. Bench in front of front window. Left-hand ground-floor room (kitchen) has C17 chamfered cross beam with plain joists, and blocked fireplace with wooden lintel. Window seat in front window. First-floor rooms with old floor-boards. Roof-space not inspected at time of survey (January 1988) but the feet of straight principal rafters (probably C17 trusses) were noted in first-floor rooms.

Listing NGR: SS6102120327