Summary
The through-passage and upper end of a late-C15 house, with C16, C17, C18, C19, C20 and C21 alterations and additions.
Reasons for Designation
St Annes, a late-C15 through-passage house with C16, C17, C18, C19, C20 and C21 alterations and additions is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural and historic interest: the house shows evidence of its building history in its plan form, fabric and construction which demonstrates how it has evolved over the centuries;
* Internal survival: the through-passage and former hall retain a good proportion of pre-1700 fabric including a chamfered and shouldered doorframe and smoke-blackened roof timbers.
History
St Annes appears to have been built in the late C15 or early C16 as a through-passage house, with the hall to the west end. The smoke-blackened roof timbers suggest that the hall, and possibly the lower end, were originally open to the roof. The house was probably remodelled in the late C16 or early C17 when the hall was ceiled over and the axial chimney stack, which backs onto the through-passage, was inserted. It is unclear when the lower (east) end of the house was demolished, but it may have been in the C18 or C19, when the room to the right-hand (west) end appears to have been added, along with the ridge stack. The historic Ordnance Survey maps suggest that St Annes was divided into three cottages in the late C19, and the evidence for three doorways to its principal (north) elevation supports this. Map evidence suggests that the house was re-amalgamated in the mid-C20, and in the C20 a two-storey extension was erected to the rear. In the late-C20 Cherry Cottage was built at the west end of St Annes and annexed the first-floor, right-hand (west) room. In 2008, this room was re-incorporated into St Annes.
Details
The through-passage and upper end of a late-C15 house, with C16, C17, C18, C19, C20 and C21 alterations and additions.
MATERIALS: the house is constructed of roughcast stone rubble and cob. It has a pink asbestos tile roof.
PLAN: at the east end of the originally rectangular building is the through-passage which provides access to the two-storey extension at the rear. To the west of the through-passage are two heated reception rooms. Attached to the west gable end is the late-C20 Cherry Cottage which formerly incorporated the first-floor, right-hand (west) room of St Annes.
EXTERIOR: the two-storey principal (north) elevation comprises three-bays with C19 casement windows with glazing bars. The through-passage doorway is to the left-hand (east) end and has a late-C19 panelled and glazed door. Between the first and second bay is an axial chimney stack and the ground-floor projection may have been its oven. There are two raking buttresses either side of the central bay window opening, which appears to have been previously used as a doorway. The third bay has late-C19 panelled and glazed double-doors to the left and a C19 casement window to the right. The west gable-end has been obscured by the erection of Cherry Cottage. The rear elevation is built into a bank, and behind the through-passage and former hall is a C20 two-storey, flat-roofed extension. The east gable end has a late-C19 casement window to each floor.
INTERIOR: to the rear of the through-passage is a late-C15 chamfered and shouldered doorframe. The ceiling beams to the through-passage and reception rooms are unchamfered and appear to be C19. The west end room has an unchamfered C19 timber lintel to the fireplace. To the first floor is the slightly-curved foot of the principal rafter of the hall truss which has mortice holes for the missing collar and threaded purlins. Behind the inserted axial stack is a smoke-blackened principal truss and there is another smoke-blackened truss on the lower end (east) wall which was not thoroughly inspected (1993).
