The Steward'S House And Manor Cottage

The Steward’s House and Manor Cottage date to the 17th century, with later 19th and 20th-century additions. Originally a single house, it was divided into three cottages in the 19th century and is now two dwellings. The building stands within a row of three, in Chapel Lane, Bledington.

The main body of the house is constructed of coursed squared and dressed limestone, with a stone slate roof. It features ashlar stacks twined with a brick stack, and two artificial stone stacks set on ashlar stumps. The facade presents a near-symmetrical appearance, with a single-storey 20th-century kitchen extension to the right and a single-storey lean-to store attached to the left rear wall, alongside a 19th-century former wash house. The main block is two storeys with an attic, illuminated by three Cotswold dormers each containing a two-light stone-mullioned casement. There are also three- and four-light double-chamfered stone-mullioned casements, with a 20th-century replacement window and a blocked doorway towards the left. All windows have stopped hoods and horizontal glazing bars. A plank door is positioned off-centre to the left. Flat coping appears on the dormers and gable ends. Roll-cross saddles are positioned at the right gable end and on the Cotswold dormers. Twin gable end stacks are located on the left side, and twin axial diagonally set stacks sit off-centre to the right.

The interior originally comprised a three-room plan, with linking doors against the rear wall. The central room retains part of a raised plasterwork frieze, approximately 2 metres long and 0.4 metres deep, featuring vine scroll decoration, bursting seed pods and griffins, and foliate motifs. An inglenook fireplace with a moulded Tudor arched bressumer is also found in the same room. A spine beam has ogee stops. A fragment of similar plasterwork, over a fireplace in Manor Cottage (the left-hand room), has a central band decorated with a repeated motif of a forward-facing head flanked by foliate 'S' scrolls incorporating grotesque faces in profile. A stone 'Tudor'-arched fireplace with carved spandrels is located below, and a similar fireplace is in a bedroom above. The building is reputedly the former residence of the manorial steward for Winchcombe Abbey.