The Crescent

The Crescent is a group of five cottages, originally seven, forming a quarter-circle arrangement. They were built in 1808. The cottages are constructed of roughly cut and squared Cary stone, with a hipped roof covered in plain clay tiles and brick chimney stacks. They are three storeys in height, with each cottage having three bays, except the southern cottage which has four. Small-pane casement windows with two lights are set in voussoired segmental arched openings to bays 1 and 3 of each cottage, and to bays 1, 2 and 4 of the southern cottage, at ground and first floor levels. A smaller three-light casement window is located in the centre bay, bay 3 of the southern cottage, set under the eaves on the second floor. Below the windows are half-glazed doors set in open timber and tile porches, mostly original but with added stone wing walls and sidelights. A single-storey lean-to has been added against the south gable. Matching two-storey radial extensions were built at the rear of each cottage in the 1970s, when the interiors were also reshaped, and the original second floor was converted into a continuous loft. Above the central doorway is a rectangular plaque with a hoodmould, inscribed "IHH/1803," likely relating to the Hunt family from nearby Compton Castle. A similar crescent exists near Charlton Musgrove, but it has been too altered to hold special interest.