Summary
A C17 cottage built of Cotswold stone and updated in the C18/ C19.
Reasons for Designation
Fair View, a C17 cottage with later alterations, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as a well-constructed and legible example of a rural dwelling of C17 date; built and adapted using the vernacular traditions of the area, it retains a high proportion of historic fabric;
* it is remarkably well-preserved as an evolved historic cottage with stop-chamfered beams and joists, an inglenook fireplace with bresuumer and adjacent winder stair, flag stone and timber floors, doors and windows with fittings, and a good quality pegged roof structure.
History
Fair View is a cottage of probable C17 origin with later alterations and is shown on a 1770 estate map of Great Wolford. By the time of the Ordnance Survey Map of 1885 it is shown with a full-width rear extension. An addition to the south-west gable end is also shown, which has been truncated or replaced by the 1902 map, and another outbuilding built to the south. The current arrangement of outbuildings was in place by 1974, although there have been some further adaptations and removal in the later C20 and early C21.
The cottage appears to have been updated in the early C19, with a new oak roof structure and some rebuilding of the gables and eaves cornice in stone. Other alterations, including the adaptation of the inglenook have taken place in the C20. In 2019 the building stands vacant.
Details
A cottage of C17 date with C18/C19 alterations and additions; and further alterations in the late C20 and early C21.
MATERIALS: constructed of local Cotswold limestone rubble with dressed stone cills to the openings, quoins and eaves cornice to the façade. The roofs are covered in Welsh slate and there are gable-end brick chimneystacks. The casements have metal frames, some within timber units, and are set under timber lintels. The roof and floor structures and coverings are of oak, elm and pine. The rear outshut is constructed of brick and partly rendered, and with a Welsh slate roof. It has metal-framed windows.
PLAN: the building has a two-room, single-depth plan with a C19 rear outshut. It is of two-storey plus attic.
EXTERIOR: the main (south-east) elevation is of three bays. The central entrance has stone walls to each side forming a porch that is otherwise of C20 construction. The part-glazed door has a stop-chamfered and nailed frame. The left and right bays are three-over-three casements to each floor and to the far left are six-pane stair windows. There is a central rooflight to the front slope and coped verges at each gable end. The south-west flank has a stair window to ground floor right and an attic window has a stone architrave. The north-east flank has a similar attic window. The rear elevation has a single-storey outshut across the full-width, which is partially glazed and rendered.
INTERIOR: the ground floor is stone-flagged with a central brick partition creating two rooms. The room to the left (south) has a modified inglenook with bressumer in the end wall with a timber winder stair to the left. There is a stone window seat to front wall in both ground-floor rooms. The north room has an inserted brick chimneybreast, timber chimneypiece and cast-iron grate. The first floor is supported by a lateral beam with deep chamfers stopped at each end, which passes through the brick partition wall. The beam is constructed of two sections with a scarf joint to the north of the partition. The joists are chamfered with run-out stops, although some have been replaced or modified.
The first floor has a central partition and two stop-chamfered beams supporting the attic floor. There is a C19 cast-iron grate to the fireplace in the south room. A timber winder stair leads to the attic floor which has two rows of oak purlins and two oak trusses, one of which is partially exposed. The roof structure is constructed of pit-sawn principals and pegged and is consistent with an early C19 date. There is evidence that the purlins have previously been plastered or limewashed. To each end of the attic floor, and to the stair, are openings with deep reveals and iron windows.
Additional historic fittings include plank doors with bracing and panelled doors with iron hinges and fitments and some decorative window catches. There is a cast-iron stove in the south wall of the outshut. The roof to the outshut is supported by a king-post truss.
This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 05/06/2019
