The Thatched House

This is a detached Arts and Crafts house, partially dating from the 18th century, which was altered and extended for architect and craftsman Alfred Powell (1865-1960) by Powell himself working with Sidney Barnsley (1865-1926), around 1906-1923. Further extensions were added in 1982 and 2015.

Materials and Construction

The building is constructed of random limestone rubble, limewashed, with some timber boarding. The chimneys are also of limestone rubble. The roofs are thatched in water reed, except for the 1982 wing and 2015 extension which are roofed in Cotswold stone tiles.

Plan and Setting

The house has an irregular, roughly T-shaped plan. Two original 18th-century cottages stand almost at right angles to each other: the easternmost cottage is oriented roughly north-south, while the larger western cottage runs east-west. Between them is an L-shaped infill wing, from which the 1982 extension extends southwards, with the smaller 2015 addition beyond.

The house is set into the top of a bank on falling ground that drops away to the south-west. Access is via a drive to the north-east, above the house. The garden extends largely to the south-west and is partly terraced.

Exterior

The composition is irregular, but each of the main ranges is of a single storey and attic with steeply-pitched roofs. There are lower, single-storey sections at the south and west ends. The western range also has a cellar, accessed from outside as the ground slopes away, under its western end. The historic ranges have timber mullioned or mullioned and transomed windows with rectangular leaded lights; the additions have timber casements.

North Entrance Front

The entrance front faces north. To the left (east) is the gable end of one of the 18th-century cottages, with a six-light stone chamfered-mullioned and transomed window extending through both ground and attic floors. At the centre, set back slightly, is the cross wing of the 1923 infill range, featuring a wide plank and batten door with stud detailing and a two-light window to the right; a three-light window lights the attic. The elevation is clad in half-round timber above the level of the ground-floor sills.

This section links with the western 18th-century cottage, which has a very deep roof and is also mainly clad in half-round timber. At its centre is a plank and batten door with strap hinges, set slightly above the present ground level, with a two-light window to the left. At the right-hand end, a low workshop with a deep thatched roof is attached at right angles, projecting northward and set into the rising ground so that its east roof slope is only just above ground level. The workshop is partly open-fronted to the west and stands on large timber uprights. It is partly clad in split palings, with a rustic door made from narrow poles.

South-West Garden Front

The principal front faces the garden to the south-west, looking down the slope away from the house. To the left (west) is the larger of the original cottages, set gable-end into the bank, with gable-end chimneys featuring two drip courses. The gable end has a wide doorway to the cellar with a plank and batten door featuring stud detailing and strap hinges with scrolled terminals. Above are single-light windows to both ground and attic floors under timber lintels.

The long elevation has two large windows of four and eight lights, and a pair of bifold plank and batten doors to the right with stud detailing and strap hinges with spearhead terminals. This adjoins the gable end of the 1923 infill range, which is clad above the plinth in horizontal weatherboarding to eaves level and with half-round timber cladding to the gable. The ground floor has a three-light window, with a similar one to the right return. Above are a pair of double doors used as a window in the gable, with a wrought-iron flush balcony.

At right angles to this block, running south, is the 1982 range. The ground floor has a roughly central early 21st-century entrance door and four single-light windows of the same date; above are two raking dormers. To the far right is a single-storey extension with a pentice roof, hipped to the south, clasping the end of the building. Both these sections have roofs of Cotswold stone tile.

The rear elevation, set against the bank, has small two-light casements to the late 20th-century and early 21st-century range, which adjoins at right angles the east cottage. The east cottage has irregular fenestration to its south gable end, with windows under timber lintels.

Interior

The building's fittings and finishes date principally from Alfred Powell's occupation and include work by other members of the Sapperton group of Arts and Crafts designers and makers, such as door and window furniture by Alfred Bucknell and plasterwork by Ernest Gimson. The doors are plank and batten examples with stud detailing and strap hinges which have circular terminals, and thumb latches with saltire crosses on the terminals.

Ground Floor

The entrance hall is within the 1923 link building and has a solid-tread newel stair with polished oak newel posts rising through the building. The hall connects the former cottages together.

The eastern cottage is now a single space, formerly the studio. It is open to the roof, whose 18th-century structure has a rough truss formed from a tie beam and paired principal rafters joined by lapped-on yokes, and single purlins with a partly-exposed ridge piece. The walls and ceiling are plastered and whitewashed. The wide fireplace under a timber bressumer is no longer in use, but the internal chimney breast survives. A blocked doorway marks the earlier entrance door, with more recent openings to either side leading to the hall.

From the hall, a short passage with internal windows gives access to the western cottage, which is divided into three rooms. Adjacent to the hall is the study, which, like the other two rooms, is panelled with vertical boards with joints covered by prominent cover strips. A built-in seat runs around two sides of the room. The brick-lined fireplace has a timber bressumer over.

The living room is the central room of the range, with another large fireplace with a chamfered bressumer over. The room is open to the roof, with open tie-beam trusses dating from 1923, all chamfered with runouts, the principals jowled as they join the tie beams, with single trenched purlins and ridge piece. The room has similar panelling to that in the study and also has a seat running along the north wall. An internal door which opens inwards stands inside the external door in this wall. On the south wall, the wide, high window has a deep window seat. To its left are multi-pane glazed metal double doors, which are masked from the outside by bifold timber doors.

At the western end of the room, a sleeping gallery lies over the adjacent parlour. The gallery is reached by a ladder stair added by Powell, which gives access to a polygonal oriel. The gallery has a timber rail formed from uprights with pierced heart decoration; the rail and oriel were reconstructed in 2015.

The living room and parlour are divided by a double-sided panelled screen. The other walls of the parlour are whitewashed. The room has a fireplace with a slightly cranked, chamfered bressumer and a built-in seat running along the north wall. The room has a plaster frieze of oak leaves and acorns by Ernest Gimson running around all four walls.

From the hall in the 1923 section, the south side is open into the kitchen in the 1982 range. The junction between the two is marked by a re-used chamfered beam across the opening and a timber upright to one side. In the cross wing of the 1923 range is the former kitchen, now the dining room. The interiors of the 1982 and 2015 extensions are modern but sympathetic in style and materials.

First Floor

The first floor is reached by the newel stair in the hall. The balustrade is solid with a timber top rail. The small landing is dominated by the exposed half-cruck construction of the cross wing; the massive half-crucks and collar are chamfered. The truss is infilled with a door and glazing to the bedroom to the west, which has a large window in the form of double doors with a flush wrought-iron balustrade.

There is a further bedroom to the north and a central bathroom, both with early 21st-century fixtures. To the south, a third bedroom and bathroom occupy the attic floor of the 1982 extension.

Garage

To the east of the house, on higher ground, stands the present garage, formerly a single-storey cottage. It is L-shaped on plan, built of limestone rubble with roofs of plain tile. To the north side is a late 20th-century up-and-over door in the gable end of the wing, with horizontal weatherboarding above. The south side has a doorway and window with late 20th-century timber door and casement under brick-built segmental arches.