White Cottage.

[Clockmaster]

Has anyone got a build date in mind after looking at this image? It has had the roof looked at a few years ago, and although the chimney stack has been reduced a little, it has been rebuilt to a good standard, albeit with new bricks.

 

[Cubist]

I would pitch it at 18th century - maybe 1725-50?

 

[Clockmaster]

Thanks cubist. And why is the bottom left hand window larger and lower than the rest? A working room maybe?

 

[Abi Cott]

The dimensions of the windows suggests Georgian to me. Lady's skirt width and window width/door width can be correlated.

Big skirts with bustles give windows and doors that are wide compared to their height. Once you get to Victorian dresses the outfits are slimmer and the doors and windows become tall and slim to match.

 

[Clockmaster]

Thank you Abi Cott. The only thing I can be certain of, is the Toll house opposite is grade 2 listed and is dated at early 19th Century.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Thanks cubist. And why is the bottom left hand window larger and lower than the rest? A working room maybe?

Any evidence for it ever having been a shop? That looks like a typical window for a small shop.

 

[Abi Cott]

Thank you Abi Cott. The only thing I can be certain of, is the Toll house opposite is grade 2 listed and is dated at early 19th Century.

Dates on listings are not necessarily reliable. Mine is out by about a decade as far as I can figure. I'm still working on the date of the house and particularly the date the indoor toilet was installed. That would date the renovation of the windows and most of the internal woodwork so if I could figure it out I'd have tied down a major change in the life of the building.

Archaeologist by training with their own piece of vertical archaeology. Oooh stratigraphy is fun

 

[Clockmaster]

Thanks cubist. And why is the bottom left hand window larger and lower than the rest? A working room maybe?

Any evidence for it ever having been a shop? That looks like a typical window for a small shop.

Hi Gareth, yes a shop or working room sounds very possible. I have a access to a print from a photograph from 1907 which shows the property next to it, and another half a dozen all different sizes, but with similar window treatment, less for a middle house which looks timber framed and quite small but taller than its neighbours. All sadly gone excepting the one in the image. Two similar cottages directly to the right had gone by the late 1920s, and the rest were pulled down for the widening on the A38 in 1951

 

[Clockmaster]

Thank you Abi Cott. The only thing I can be certain of, is the Toll house opposite is grade 2 listed and is dated at early 19th Century.

Dates on listings are not necessarily reliable. Mine is out by about a decade as far as I can figure. I'm still working on the date of the house and particularly the date the indoor toilet was installed. That would date the renovation of the windows and most of the internal woodwork so if I could figure it out I'd have tied down a major change in the life of the building.

Archaeologist by training with their own piece of vertical archaeology. Oooh stratigraphy is fun

What build date would you put on that Toll House? I am interested as it is in my home town. The river Salwarpe in not far away, and in the 19th Century it was a salt mining town.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

The date of the toll house will be tied to the date of the toll road it served. Early 19th century (or late 18th) would be right. I wonder if the awful plastic windows have listed building consent?
Here's the same view in 1857
https://historicengland.org.uk/imag...ype=englandsplaces&i=0&wm=1&bc=0|6|7|8&g=5290

 

[MikeG]

I would pitch it at 18th century - maybe 1725-50?

I'm not saying you're wrong, but my instinct would be later than that. Late 18th century, early 19th. There's not an awful lot to go on, though (and what an awful manipulated photo!)

 

[Kearn]

Can't really tell from the image, but it looks like the tops of the lower windows aren't aligned either at the same height?

We have a mixture of window heights in one room, getting higher over time as people raised the internal floor level! Now I've removed over a foot of concrete and got back to original height with limecrete and brick, there's one widow that now makes us feel like dwarves!!

 

[Clockmaster]

The date of the toll house will be tied to the date of the toll road it served. Early 19th century (or late 18th) would be right. I wonder if the awful plastic windows have listed building consent?
Here's the same view in 1857
https://historicengland.org.uk/imag...ype=englandsplaces&i=0&wm=1&bc=0|6|7|8&g=5290

Thanks for the input Gareth. I have not seen this image as clear as this before. Can I ask how you accessed it? Nice to see lower window shutters (I wonder if they would have been fitted originally? And dentil brick work to the chimney stack to match the eaves - deserves to be re-instated. What is that arch below the bottom right window? A coal-hole perhaps, meaning that is there a possibility of a cellar?

 

[Abi Cott]

Gareth is a conservation officer, so deals with these entries on a daily basis I would imagine.

 

[Clockmaster]

Gareth is a conservation officer, so deals with these entries on a daily basis I would imagine.

Aaahhh, that's interesting to know. Better keep on the right side of him then! What I want to know is, how did he know my home town?

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Gareth is a conservation officer, so deals with these entries on a daily basis I would imagine.

Aaahhh, that's interesting to know. Better keep on the right side of him then! What I want to know is, how did he know my home town?

That's special Conservation Officer magic, we have sworn never to tell the uninitiated.
Actually, your earlier comments give enough info for a Google to find the toll house.

 

[CliffordPope]

What I want to know is, how did he know my home town?

You told us!
River Salwarpe, Toll house, ... not many possibilities to search.

 

[Clockmaster]

OK it's a fair cop guys. At least it proves someone is actually reading my post's!
Thanks for the input.

 

[Cubist]

And why is the bottom left hand window larger and lower than the rest? A working room maybe?/quote]

I think the sketch in the link provided by Gareth helps a little with this question as it shows that ground level was considerably lower in the past. Initially I had agreed with Abi and Clockmaker and they were probably right that the deeper window fronted a shop or workroom - the mental image brought back memories of a scene in the movie of Hobson's Choice (1954), in which John Mills is seen, through a similar window, making/repairing boots.

On reflection though I think there is a more mundane explanation. I now suspect it was the sitting room used to receive and entertain guests. The depth of the window, besides providing more light, would also provide excellent lines of sight to observe inbound visitors or simply to watch the world go by while seated - I have an image in mind of the village gossips eyeing their victims as they passed by. :twisted:

 

[MikeG]

I'm getting confused here. Gareth is talking about the toll house, is he not? That's not the cottage which was the focus of the question.......the white pebble dashed cottage across the road from the toll house.

ETA:

OK, never mind. I've re-read the thread, and the focus switched half way through the first page. I'm still interested in something more definitive about the white cottage.