Canal Cottage and Outbuilding, Aldermaston Wharf, West Berkshire

Description

PADWORTH

1865/0/10007 WHARFSIDE
26-JAN-09 Canal Cottage and outbuilding

II
A two storey C18 cottage and single storey outbuilding associated with the Kennet Navigation and subsequently with the Kennet and Avon Canal. Both constructed of handmade brick with tile roofs and some later brickwork. The cottage was originally a simple two-up-two-down, but a small extension has been added. The outbuilding is a single room structure.

EXTERIOR: The cottage façade, which faces south east, has a central doorway with hood carried on carved brackets, flanked by a casement window on each side with corresponding casements on the first floor. The ground floor windows have segmental brick arches. Half hipped tiled roof with an external end stack which projects from the north east gable end; the stack partly covers two bricked up windows, one at each storey, both with segmental arches. The rear (north west) elevation has a casement window with segmental arch at ground floor level and a single casement window at first floor level. There is a modern brick extension with C20 window and door. The south west end of the cottage has a bricked up window at ground floor level and a casement window at first floor level, both with segmental arches. All windows are C20 replacements.

The outbuilding has an entrance on the south west side with one C20 window and a pitched roof. There is also a C20 replacement window on the rear (north east) side of the building. The north west end has an internal gable stack and the south east end shows the queen post roof construction exposed.

INTERIOR: The cottage has been modified to become a tea and book shop for the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust, and has modern fittings, but there are still features remaining which belong to the C18 and C19: six panel front and back doors with glass in the upper two panels; internal panelled and plank doors, tall beaded skirting board in the landing on the first floor. The main ground floor room has a boxed in cross beam and a wall plate exposed. The straight enclosed staircase has C19 panelling on one side. The fireplace was not seen, possibly boxed in, and would have been a later addition. The outbuilding has an early C19 cast iron range and copper. Both buildings have timber queen post roof trusses and clasped purlins; the outbuilding has a pair of large raking struts on its south east wall which may suggest an date earlier than the C18.

HISTORY: The buildings date to the early C18 and it is probable that they predate the construction of the wharf and the canal, although subsequently used as canal buildings in the later C18 into the C19. This is because the cottage and outbuilding are on a different alignment to the canal, as seen on the 1st edition OS map (1878), and their plot is cut by the wharf. The map shows that they are in alignment with a group of farm buildings to the north west, which are no longer extant, and that the outbuilding was larger than its present size.

The Kennet Navigation was the first attempt to change the waterway so that it was navigable for larger craft, although the River Kennet had been navigable from the Thames to Reading from the C14. The Kennet Navigation was completed in 1723. Aldermaston Wharf became a major centre on the Kennet Navigation, and it may be that the cottage and outbuilding are contemporary with the early phase of its construction in the C18. A decision was taken in 1788 to connect the Kennet Navigation at Newbury to the Avon Navigation at Bath, and the canal would incorporate Aldermaston Wharf. Construction of the Kennet and Avon Canal did not start until 1794 and was completed in 1810, enabling waterway navigation from Bristol to Reading. Aldermaston Wharf comprised a number of buildings including Canal Cottage which became a canal Lengthman's cottage i.e. a man who was responsible for a set length of the canal, the outbuilding being used for washing and cooking.

Contemporary C18-C19 wharf buildings have long gone, or have been converted, such as the Wharfinger's cottage, stables, malthouse and brewery and cranes. The listed Aldermaston Lock was enlarged in 1760 to take the Newbury barges. With the advent of the railway from London to Bristol in the 1830s, the canal began to decline. In 1852 the canal was sold to the GWR. The canal continued to be used to a lesser extent until nationalised in 1948 under the British Transport Commission. In 1962 ownership passed to the British Waterways Board.

SOURCES: Kenneth R Clew, The Kennet & Avon Canal: An Illustrated History (1968)

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: Canal cottage and outbuilding are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* They are two C18 buildings which contain a significant proportion of their original fabric;
* They are a rare survival of domestic/industrial buildings associated with the C18 Aldermaston Wharf, and canal wharfs nationally.

Reasons for Listing

Canal Cottage and the associated outbuilding are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* They are two C18 buildings which contain a significant proportion of their original fabric;
* They are a rare survival of domestic/industrial buildings associated with the C18 Aldermaston Wharf, and canal wharfs nationally.

External Links

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