Cotswold Cottage

Cotswold Cottage is a two-storey cottage with attic in Naunton, originally dating from the late 17th or early 18th century. It is built of coursed local limestone rubble with Cotswold stone slate roofs and a coursed limestone rubble stack at the western end.

The building was originally conceived as a single-depth range of two storeys and attic running east-west, comprising three bays. Two of these bays now form Cotswold Cottage itself, whilst the third forms part of the adjacent cottage known as Ferndale. Later extensions added north-south ranges to both buildings. Cotswold Cottage itself includes a slightly lower projecting two-storey bay to the north, which formerly served as the village shop, and two further two-storey bays projecting to the rear.

The exterior of Cotswold Cottage retains two-light stone mullioned windows to the ground and first floors of the main range. The former shop bay has cambered headed openings with timber door and casements, along with a 21st-century dormer. A lean-to porch with Cotswold stone tile roof sits in the angle between the main range and the projecting bay.

Internally, the cottage preserves much of its original construction. The ground floor principal room features a chamfered ceiling beam with exposed ceiling joists and a large fireplace with chamfered bressumer beam. The timber winder stair appears to occupy its original position. The first floor retains a plank screen, exposed chamfered wall plate and ceiling beam, and a blocked doorway that originally gave access to the adjacent cottage. The roof structure is of threaded twin-purlin construction with collars set high towards the ridge, which is not visible.

The pair of cottages, of which Cotswold Cottage is the less altered, appear to date from the late 17th or more probably the early 18th century. Both were later extended by addition of further ranges running north-south. From the late 19th century until the late 20th century, both cottages remained in single family ownership and single occupation, with the north-south range now forming the larger part of Ferndale being used for storage. The projecting bay at the western end of Cotswold Cottage served as the village shop until the late 20th century. The buildings were fully divided into two separate dwellings in the 1980s, at which point Ferndale's north-south ranges were taken down and entirely rebuilt to render it habitable.

Cotswold Cottage is a good survival of late 17th or early 18th-century Cotswold vernacular architecture using traditional methods and materials. It retains clear evidence of its original plan form, high-quality carpentry and materials, and good internal details that contribute to its special architectural interest. Ferndale, to which it is attached, has been almost entirely rebuilt in modern materials and construction methods and, whilst retaining its earlier footprint, has undergone dramatic alteration to its plan form, and is therefore not of special interest.