Description

BRAYFORD
SS 63 SE
3/5 West Blakewell Cottage (Formerly
- listed as West Blakewell Farmhouse)
20.2.67
-
II

Farmhouse, now private dwelling. Probably early C16 with successive remodellings in
the late C16 and early C17 and later alterations. Painted stone rubble and cob.
Thatch roof, half-hipped at left end, gable end to right. Tall front lateral hall
stack with tapered cap, drip, offsets and projecting bread oven.
Complex phased plan development. Former open hall house, only the hall, passage and
inner room of which survives, the lower end to right, possibly a byre, having been
demolished. It was probably originally only open over the hall and passage, as there
are full height solid wall partitions between the hall and inner room and at the
lower end of the passage, the latter now of course forming the right gable end wall.
The inner room may therefore be a later addition. The passage and lower end of the
hall were floored before the hall proper was eventually ceiled in C17 when a lateral
stack was built on the front of the hall. At the rear of the hall is a projecting
stair turret. The front wall of the hall and inner room has been rebuilt out in line
with the lateral stack, and the rear of the passage partitioned off to form a small
dairy.
2 storeys. 3-window range. C20 fenestration. 2-storey hall and inner room section
of front wall built out in line with front lateral stack with slate roof and two 2-
light casements on each floor, 3 panes per light. 3-light window to right of stack,
3 panes per light above ovolo-moulded door surround to cross-passage doorway with
large bulbous stops surmounted by carved triple leaf motifs.
Interior: headrail and some of the muntins survive to hall/cross passage screen.
Deeply projecting low jetty over the screen with chamfered jetty beam indicating
phased insertion of floors. The stubs of the studs survive to a closed partition
above the jetty creating a small chamber over the passage and lower end of the hall.
with access by winder staircase in projecting stair turret at rear of hall. The
much higher hall cross ceiling beam and bressumers have ornate quadruple-reeded
chamfers terminating in carved leaf stops and scratch-moulded joists. Chamfered
lintel to fireplace with bread oven and squint. 2 axial chamfered beams and
bressumers to inner room with pyramid stops.
The single principal truss over the hall was replaced in C19 but smoke-blackened
rafters survive over the hall and cross-passage. The hall/inner room solid stone
and cob partition rises to the apex of the roof. The roof structure over the inner
room is of C18/early C19 construction suggesting substantial later rebuilding of the
inner room end.

Listing NGR: SS6910731002

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26401371

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

• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living