Description

SY 09 SW ROCKBEARE

3/103 Lower Southwood
- Farmhouse and adjoining Lower
Southwood Cottage
- II

Farmhouse and adjoining cottage, originally all one house. Early C17, refurbished
circa 1700 and the cottage incorporates part of a late C19 coach house. The older
parts are plastered cob on rubble footings, much rebuilt or faced up with circa 1700
brick on rubble footings and some late C19 brick; brick or stone rubble stacks
topped with C19 brick and with some late C19 chimney pots; thatch roof and Roman
tiles to the late C19 section.
U-shaped building. The south-facing main block has a 3-room-and-through-passage
plan with a small unheated dairy instead of inner room at the left (western) end.
The hall has an axial stack backing onto the dairy and there is a parlour with an
end stack at the right(eastern) end. A kitchen block with projecting outer lateral
stack is built at right angles behind the left end and the main stair is located in
the angle between the kitchen and main block. Lower Southwood Cottage is found in
the right end rear block. It has 2 rooms. The front room is early C17, contains a
disused stairwell and is served by a rear axial stack and the rear room has been
converted from a late C19 coach house, All 2 storeys.
Regular but not symmetrical 7-window brick front. The brick is laid to Flemish bond
and makes decorative use of burnt headers. At the bottom is a plinth of rounded
bricks over exposed rubble footings. All the windows have low segmental arches
over. Those second in from the left end are blind. The rest contain similar late
C19 casements with glazing bars. The front passage doorway right of centre contains
a late C19 4-panel door behind a contemporary porch with trellis sides and a tiled
gable roof with shaped bargeboards. The roof is gable-ended to right and hipped to
left. The east-facing outer face of the right-hand rear block has the blind gable
end of the main block. This is built of circa 1700 brick which appears to continue
into the rear block but most here has been rebuilt with C19 brick and contains a 2-
window front of late C19 casements with glazing bars. Both rear blocks have hipped
roofs.
Interior. The basic structure appears to retain a good deal of early C17 work
although much is hidden by later plaster. However, the screens either side are late
C17 frames and partly exposed; the timbers are of slight scantling with straight
braces and the lower side contains a contemporary 2-panel door. The hall, kitchen
and front room of the cottage rear block all have early C17 soffit-chamfered end
scroll-stopped crossbeams. The service end parlour was rebuilt circa 1700 and has a
plain soffit-chamfered crossbeam and a brick fireplace with a curving pentan and oak
lintel shaped to a segmental arch. The hall fireplace is blocked although the large
size of its oak lintel is evident. The kitchen fireplace is large and built of
stone but its lintel is covered over. The cottage fireplace is blocked. The
present stair is probably C19 although the door to it from the hall is late C17 with
2 fielded panels. The disused stairwell in the cottage is early C17 and oak framed.
The chamber over the front cottage room has the remains of a C17 plaster cornice
with a simple reeded moulding. The 4-bay roof of the main block is original and
unusual in that the front has simple stright principals whilst the rear has side-
pegged jointed crucks. The collars here could not be examined but are probably
pegged dovetail-shaped and lap-jointed like the collar examined on the side-pegged
jointed cruck over the early C17 section of the cottage rear block. In the
roofspace the top of early C17 framed crosswall between the front block and cottage
can be examined. It is close-studded with the lathes set in holes to create a
ladder backing for the cob infill. The roof over the kitchen is circa 1700
comprising 1-frame trusses of relatively slender scantling with pegged lap-jointed
collars.
Lower Southwood is an interesting and attractive farmhouse.

Listing NGR: SY0219793421

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26499230

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

• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5