Oatway Cottage

OATWAY COTTAGE

A house originally built in the late medieval period as a four-bay open hall house, subsequently altered and extended in the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. It is constructed from rendered and lime-washed stone rubble and cob, under a wheat-reed thatched roof.

The building was remodelled in the early 17th century when a ceiling, fireplace and staircase were inserted, converting it to a cross passage house. A stair tower was added to the rear in the later 17th century, possibly as late as 1700. During the 18th century, a single-storey outbuilding was added to the south-west end, possibly for agricultural purposes. The north-east end was extended in the 19th century. In the 20th century the house was subdivided into two dwellings, with the 18th-century extension being absorbed into the south-west dwelling. It was returned to single occupancy in the late 20th century when the upper storey was remodelled.

The principal south elevation is asymmetrical, with the original domestic accommodation being one and a half storeys whilst the extension to the south-west end is of full height, under the same roof. Three gabled dormers are present; the outer two formerly bore raised plasterwork designs consisting of crossed palm leaves and the initials BWO (said to represent William Oatway and his wife) and the date 1700, though these were rendered over in the late 20th century. The left-hand dormer contains a five-light moulded mullion window (originally six-light), while the other two dormers have three-light mullions. A gabled thatched porch with an arched opening and moulded ribbed plank inner door is positioned off-centre at ground floor level. To the right of the porch are three two-light casements with a raking buttress between the first and second bays. To the left of the porch are two two-light mullions, one steeply chamfered, with a stepped buttress at the junction between the house and the outbuilding. The outbuilding contains one single-light and one three-light casement window plus a 20th-century glazed door.

The rear north elevation features an off-centre doorway with a moulded plank door under a peak-arched wooden door frame. To the left of the doorway is a stair tower lit by a lancet window, and further left, a large lateral stone stack, the upper portion either heightened or rebuilt in brick. To the right of the doorway are two-light and three-light mullion windows with two single-light casement windows above. The former outbuilding has single-light casement and three-light mullion windows. The right-hand north-east gable end contains two two-light casement windows at ground floor and a three-light casement window at upper floor level, whilst the left-hand south-west gable end to the former outbuilding is blind with a brick end stack.

Internally, the late medieval part of the house comprises two rooms separated by a timber-framed cross passage with studs and rails. The room to the left of the cross passage, latterly used as a kitchen, has timber ceiling beams with scroll stops and a large inglenook fireplace with a reconstructed bread oven and large timber bressumer with scroll stops. To the right of the chimney breast a staircase rises to the upper storey. Beyond the kitchen is a further entrance door and, separated by a lobby, the former outbuilding which has been incorporated into the house. It contains a single room of full height with an inserted 20th-century mezzanine. The room to the right of the cross passage, latterly used as a sitting room, is at a slightly lower level and contains a large inglenook fireplace with stone jambs and timber bressumer with scroll stops to the rear wall. To the left of the fireplace are two plank and batten doors; the left-hand door provides access to a winder stair in the stair tower whilst the right-hand door gives access to an alcove under the stair. A curve in the alcove wall indicates the possible location of an earlier staircase. The ceiling beams have scroll stops, with the central beam and the half beam to the north-east wall containing mortices at their centres, suggesting that the room was centrally divided before the fireplace was inserted. An off-centre doorway in the right-hand wall, cut through the original external wall, provides access to a single room, latterly used as a study, in the 19th-century extension.

The upper storey was extensively remodelled in the late 20th century when timber stud partition walls were inserted to create four bedrooms, leaving very few historic fixtures and fittings.

The late medieval roof structure comprises two pairs of jointed crucks resting on stone pads set within the ground-floor walls. They are morticed and tenoned at the apex with the ridge-piece resting in a v-notch; the collars are similarly jointed though that to the south-west cruck has been removed. Two trenched purlins exist on each side of the roof slope, one at the wall top and one halfway up the slope, with common rafters and battens surviving, all being riven timbers. The south-west end is half-hipped with a cross timber halved into the back of the hip cruck to support the purlins. All roof timbers at this end, along with some of the thatch, are heavily smoke blackened. At the north-east end there is no evidence of a hip truss and, as the roof timbers have been painted, no evidence of smoke blackening.