Description

POWICK

1431/0/10016 KINGS END ROAD
09-FEB-07 14
Kings End Cottage

II
House. Late C18/early C19 with C19 additions.

MATERIALS: Red brick with grey slate hipped roof with side stacks.

PLAN: Kings End Cottage is a double fronted, double depth house with a central entrance hall, two floors and a cellar.

EXTERIOR: The central door has an arched fanlight and a six panelled raised and fielded door, reinforced internally with iron straps, set in a moulded and panelled arched architrave. There is a Victorian open porch built of red brick with sandstone details. It has round headed arches to the front and either side, supported on chamfered brick pillars set on a tapering brick plinth. To the left and right of the porch are canted bay windows with slate roofs. There is a simple dentilated eaves course immediately below the hipped slate roof which has a single stack to the right, and two stacks to the left. The W elevation has a Victorian/Edwardian lean-to conservatory with arched windows on a dwarf wall. Further to the rear is the two-storey lean-to extension with a plank door on the ground floor; it also houses steps going down to the external cellar entrance. The rear elevation has seen some alterations on the ground floor with the insertion of three modern windows and French doors into an earlier arch headed opening. On the first floor to the E is an in-filled arch headed window and a small arch headed single window. A brick built, single storey wing, projects at right angles to the house on the W and is thought to have been an early outbuilding. It is roofed with plain clay tiles and has a full height, gable end, chimney stack and an early panelled door with two glazed upper lights. Fenestration is a mix of two pane and eight/eight horned sliding sashes.

INTERIOR: The house retains most of its original joinery, including raised and fielded panelled doors, reeded and moulded doorcases, deep skirtings, alcove cupboards with panelled doors, and an original staircase, with a swept and ramped banister with pairs of turned, vase and block rails, and carved tread ends. Other features include an early bell pull system, a polychrome encaustic tiled floor in the entrance hall, and a small cast iron fireplace on the ground floor. The vaulted brick cellar has two large chambers, a well and a smaller barrel vaulted room with panelled door and four original brick built storage tanks, believed to be for storage of perishable food items. The majority of the original and early interior features survive despite some losses.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: To the front of the property is a dwarf wall with wrought iron railings and to the rear of the property is a walled garden retaining its enclosing walls. To the west of the property a ha ha which separates the grounds from the adjacent farmland. There are a number of brick garden buildings and greenhouses which are not of historical importance.

HISTORY: The house is first documented on the 1848 tithe map, when it is believed to have been in existence for some time. It was partially updated in the Victorian period, with the addition of the porch and bay windows and the extension of the domestic accommodation.

SUMMARY OFIMPORTANCE: The end of the C18/early C19 saw an increase in the construction of houses as the rising middle classes sought to emulate the elegance of the grander mansions of the aristocracy. With its graceful front door and strongly symmetrical façade, Kings End Cottage is very much of this tradition and as a late Georgian rural residence located near to Worcester, it reflects the aspirations of its owner. Although there have been some later C19 alterations these do not detract from the interest of the building and it remains a particularly complete example.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26671206

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

• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)