Oak Beam Cottage

SX 79 SE DREWSTEIGNTON CROCKERNWELL

6/88 Oak Beam Cottage and No.2 Ducks Alley

GV II

Pair of cottages. Late C17-early C18. Plastered cob on stone rubble footings; stone rubble stack topped with C19 brick; thatch roof, replaced with slate over No.2 Plan: pair of contemporary cottages facing north. Each is a mirror of the other about the central crosswall. The doorways each end of the front are directly into the main rooms, each heated by back-to-back fireplaces in the central axial stack. Small service outshots to rear under the main roof. Oak Beam Cottage is that to right, No.2 Ducks Alley to left. 2 storeys. Exterior: overall irregular 4-window front of various C19 and C20 casements with glazing bars. Oak Beam Cottage has an unusual late C19 part-glazed panelled door behind a contemporary gabled porch. No.2 Ducks Alley has a C20 part-glazed door. The roof is hipped to right and butts that of the adjoining property to left. Interior: in Oak Beam Cottage the main room crossbeam is soffit-chamfered with runout stops and the fireplace has a soffit-chamfered oak lintel. The roof is inaccessible but the scantling of the principals suggest that original A-frame trusses survive. In No.2 Ducks Alley the fireplace is blocked and all structural detail is hidden by C19 and C20 plaster. Nevertheless it is thought to have similar features to those in Oak Beam Cottage.

Listing NGR: SX7536192385