Description

UPLOWMAN WHITNAGE
ST 01 NW
4/195 Whitnage Cottage and Little
- Whitnage
GV II

2 cottages, formerly a single farmhouse. Early or mid C16, with major later C16 and
C17 improvements, some late C19 modernisation, renovated circa 1960. Plastered
stone rubble, probably with some cob; stone rubble and cob stacks topped with C19
and C20 brick; concrete tile roof, formerly thatch.
Plan and development: L-shaped building, now containing 2 cottages. The main block
is built alongside the road and faces onto it to the north-north-west, say north.
It is built down a hillslope. Originally this main block had a 3-room-and-through-
passage plan. Downhill at the right (west) end Little Whitnage occupies the former
service end parlour and site of the passage. The lower passage partition has been
removed and now passage and parlour make up one room. The former parlour has a
projecting gable-end stack. Whitnage Cottage occupies the former hall and inner
room end. The hall has a large axial cob stack backing onto the site of the former
passage. The inner room end has been subdivided or enlarged into 2 rooms and there
was once a gable-end stack. Circa 1960 a 1-room plan extension was built at right
angle to rear of the inner room end.
Only a small part of the early or mid C16 house remains but there is enough there to
show that it was some kind of open hall house, open to the roof and heated by an
open hearth fire. The hall fireplace was added in the mid or late C16. The service
end was rebuilt in the early Cl7 as a parlour. The hall was probably floored over
about the same time and it was then converted to a kitchen. The inner room end has
been much altered in the C19 and C20. There is some evidence of a gable-end stack
but it has been demolished. It seems likely that there was a small parlour here
before the service end was rebuilt. The farmhouse was probably converted to
cottages in the C18. Both cottages are 2 storeys and there are C20 service outshots
across the whole of the front.
Exterior: irregular 3-window front and 4 to the service outshots, all C20 casements
and only a couple have glazing bars. Right of centre Little Whitnage has a front
doorway into the service outshot. Whitnage Cottage doorway is in the left (west)
gable end. Both contain C20 doors. The roof is gable-ended. In the right (west)
end there is a restored late C16 - early Cl7 4-light oak-mullioned window in which
the narrow lights have Tudor arch heads. The rear has similar fenestration to the
front although there is a first floor window at the Whitnage Cottage end which is
mid or late Cl7; it is 2 lights, oak-framed with a flat faced mullion, contains
rectangular panes of leaded glass and an orginal iron casement with an ornate
wrought iron catch.
Interior: in Whitnage Cottage a short section of an oak plank-and-muntin screen is
exposed on the former inner room side between the former hall and inner room. It
maybe an original feature but it has painted on it traces of mid or late C16 colour;
chevron patterns on the headbeam and muntins with floral motifs on the planks. The
hall itself has a large stone rubble fireplace which contains a C19 side oven. It
has a soffit-chamfered oak lintel which rests on a large oak corbel on the left
side. The probably early Cl7 crossbeam here has deep hollow soffit chamfers and is
unstopped. The roof structure over Whitnage Cottage (former hall and inner room)
was replaced in the C20. In Little Whitnage the former service end parlour has a
good 9-panel ceiling of intersecting beams with broad hollow soffit-chamfers. This
stops on the line of the former passage lower side partition. In fact this
partition still survives. It has been moved back a short distance to line the
present party wall between the two cottages. It is an oak plank-and-muntin screen
containing a blocked crank-headed doorway. The roof over this section is early. It
is 2 bays. The inner (eastern) bay is original and its purlins and common rafters
are heavily smoke-blackened from the original open hearth fire. The truss and outer
(western) bay are associated with the early or mid C17 rebuild. The truss has a
front side-pegged jointed cruck principal but rear straight principal. Also Cl7 is
the oak-framed partition between the first floor chambers.
This multi-phrase former farmhouse forms part of a group of interesting listed
buildings in the hamlet of Whitnage.

Listing NGR: ST0262015648

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26400274

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)