Description

OTTERTON FORE STREET (north side),
SY 0885
Otterton
7/158 Rosemary Cottage
30.6.61
GV II

House, 2 cottages until circa 1975 but was originally a single house. Early C17,
modernised circa 1975. Plastered cob on stone rubble footings; cob stacks with
plastered C20 brick tops; thatch roof. Former rear coach house of plastered brick
with tile roof.
L-shaped house. The main block faces south-south-east, say south, onto Fore
Street. It has a 2-room plan with gable-end stacks. The right (eastern) room is
larger than the left room and it seems likely that there was a through passage on
the left side of the crosswall. Present stairs rise across rear wall of left room
but the original stair was probably alongside the fireplace in the right room. 2-
room rear block at right angles behind right room. The small inner room here may
be C17 but the outer was built in the C19 as a coach house but has now been brought
into domestic use. All 2 storeys.
Irregular 3-window front of C20 replacement casements with glazing bars. 2 front
doorways, 1 to each of the former cottages. The original doorway is that left of
centre which now contains a C20 stable-type door and a contemporary trellis porch.
The secondary doorway right of centre contains a C20 glazed door. The roof is
gable-ended; so too is the rear block.
Interior is largely the result of the circa 1975 modernisation but the main fabric
of the early C17 house is virtually intact. The roof and crossbeams divide the
house into 3 bays, 2 to the larger right room and 1 to the left room, and divided by
a full height oak-framed crosswall (now plastered over). The crossbeam and half
beams are all soffit-chamfered with step stops. The right room fireplace was
originally cob but was rebuilt circa 1976 in brick retaining the soffit-chamfered
oak lintel. The left room fireplace is completely blocked but, since it seems to
take up the entire end wall, is thought to be a kitchen fireplace. The truss over
the right room is a side-pegged jointed cruck. The roofspace is inaccessible but
the roof is thought to be clean.
Rosemary Cottage is a single phase early C17 house and an interesting survival of a
house of that time of relatively modest proportions. It is also one of a number of
attractive listed buildings along Otterton Fore Street.

Listing NGR: SY0824285300

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26618765

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

• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)