Buildings

A group of nine connected buildings in Minchinhampton, Avening Valley, comprising an integrated complex of domestic, industrial and workshop structures arranged around an open courtyard facing east.

The buildings are constructed in coursed limestone rubble with gabled roofs of stone slate and concrete tile, and were developed in phases from the 16th century onwards. The core of the group consists of Buildings 14 and 16, a 16th-century domestic building that was remodelled in two phases during the 18th century, with extension 16 added to the west before 1766. Buildings 13, 15 and 17 were added later as industrial structures: Building 13 (dated 1865) as offices to the southeast; Building 15 rebuilt to the northeast as a blacksmith's shop and offices; and Building 17, a square-plan press house, added around the 1860s to the west end. This remodelling created a cruciform plan. Buildings 11, 11A, 12 and 19, comprising 19th-century workshops and a cottage, form a separate block to the south of Buildings 14 and 15.

Building 11 predates 1830 and extended at least one bay further east; 11A was added pre-1830 at right angles to the west with a north projection forming an L-shaped plan; 12 was added pre-1830 to the south of 11A and east of 11; 19, a two-storey cottage, was added in the early to mid-19th century to the west as a continuation along the east-west axis of Building 11. The other buildings are single-storey except Building 19.

The south elevation of Building 19 has a one-window range with a mid-19th-century porch featuring cusped bargeboards, inserted skylights and 4/8-pane sash windows. Building 11A has timber lintels over a tall 5-light window; Building 11 has timber lintels over two windows. The north elevation of 11A, facing into the yard, has timber lintels over a plank door and two 4/8-pane sashes. Building 12's north elevation has a three-window range with 20th-century double doors to the left, fixed casements, skylights and further 20th-century double doors.

The interiors of these southern buildings contain early 19th-century features: Building 11 has a three-bay collar-truss roof with principal rafters and tenoned purlins adjoining a later gable, and 19th-century drive shafts; Building 12 has a mid-19th-century two-bay roof with cast-iron shoes for purlins; Building 19 has early 19th-century fireplaces, one with a hob grate, and a beam.

Buildings 14 and 16 have long rectangular plans. They are of two storeys with an attic to the north elevation, which displays a 16th-century hollow-moulded mullioned window, 2- and 3-light 18th-century flat-mullioned windows, and 19th-century four-light windows with top-hung leaded casements. Inserted 19th-century round-headed windows and 8/8-pane sashes are also present. The south elevation is a three-storey five-window range with 18th-century plain flat-mullioned windows with leaded lights. Building 14 has stone lintels over two doorways, with two others converted to windows in the 19th century. Building 16 has a doorway flanked by two flat-mullioned 18th-century windows, the western example blocked. A through-passage extends to the east end; timber lintels span 20th-century upper-floor windows. The west gable end of Building 16 has a round-headed taking-in door above a second-floor window; its east gable end was replaced in the 19th century with three segmental archways inserted at ground-floor level.

Internally, Building 16 retains an 18th-century three-bay collar-truss roof with tenoned purlins, though the ground-floor ceiling has been inserted or replaced; a plank door with strap hinges remains at the former west gable taking-in door. Building 14 has a hollow-chamfered fireplace surround, deep stop-chamfered 16th-century beams, and an 18th-century stone stair. An early to mid-16th-century moulded beam has been reused as a wall plate. The first floor has cased beams and an 18th-century stop-chamfered beam to the left (west); 19th-century panelled reveals flank the sashes. An eight-bay 18th-century collar-truss roof with tenoned purlins and waney principals spans the interior.

Building 15, to the northeast, is two storeys tall with a two-window range featuring a stone lintel over a 20th-century door and 19th-century mullioned windows of 2 to 4 lights; its west elevation has a reset 18th-century flat-mullioned window.

Building 13, also two storeys, bears a 1865 datestone. Its polygonal south end displays a reset trefoil-headed light flanked at top by a pair of small lights above a reset 1705 datestone, with segmental-headed windows and a door below.

Building 17, to the west, is constructed of coursed limestone block with a double-gable roof of slate to the south and corrugated iron to the north, with ashlar end stacks. Two storeys tall, it retains original round-headed windows. Its interior features cast-iron columns and chamfered beams on both floors. The roof spans 5 by 5 bays with collar trusses with cast-iron shoes to the purlins. The ground floor originally contained steam-powered presses.