Newtons Hill Cottage, Hartfield, East Sussex

Summary

Description

A later C16 house, probably of lobby entrance plan, converted into two cottages in the C18 and restored to single occupancy circa 1970 with the addition of a two-storey extension at the west end and a large gable on the north side. The three outbuildings in the grounds of the cottage are not of special interest and are therefore excluded from the listing.

MATERIALS: oak timber frame clad with Flemish bond red brick with grey headers on the ground floor and clad in tile-hanging on the first floor. It has a tiled roof with brick and stone external chimneystacks and uPVC casement windows with wood frames.

PLAN: originally a rectangular three-bay house with the main entrance on the south side, and an external end chimneystack. Internally there was a large hall to the east and possibly a parlour to the west with three chambers above. In the C18 the property was converted into two cottages and a further external chimneystack was probably added at this time. In the 1970s it was restored to one ownership and a two-storey west extension provided a kitchen on the ground floor and bedroom above and a north extension provided an entrance hallway and study on the ground floor with a bedroom and bathroom above.

EXTERIOR: the north side, currently the entrance front, was originally the rear of the property. There is a large projecting mid-C20 central gable with three first floor windows over an entrance flanked by casement windows. To the east of the gable the ground floor has C18 brickwork in Flemish bond with tile-hanging above and casement windows. To the west are matching materials.

The east end has a massive tapering external C16 brick chimneystack mainly in English bond on a stone base.

The south side, originally the entrance front, has some C18 brickwork in Flemish bond with some vitrified headers to the ground floor but has been patched with C20 brickwork. There are later C20 casement windows and French windows. The later C20 west bay is in matching materials.

The west side, part of the C20 west extension, has a plain brick ground floor and tile-hung first floor.

INTERIOR: entrance through the north 1970s entrance hall leads on the west to the study which has two exposed upright posts on the line of the original north external wall and an early C19 ledged plank door.

A similar door in the south wall of the entrance hallway leads into the sitting room which is of two bays and has an open fireplace along the east end wall with a wooden bressumer with run-out stops, some C16 brickwork and two alcoves above the bressumer. The central bay has a chamfered axial beam but the joists are not chamfered and nail holes show they were originally plastered. The ceiling level is high suggesting the floor level may have been dropped.

Between the sitting room and dining room a wide half-winder staircase with timber-framed partitions leads to the upper floor.

The dining room to the west of the staircase has a smaller, probable C18 brick open fireplace with a wooden bressumer, which was originally in an external chimneystack.

The kitchen/breakfast room is in the 1970s west extension and has reused timbers and C21 fittings. The C21 fittings are not of special interest and are therefore excluded from this listing.

On the first floor the eastern bedroom, originally the heated principal chamber, has a large C16 brick fireplace, mainly in English bond, with a wooden bressumer. The wall frame with a mid-rail and corner posts is exposed and a blocked original window opening is indicated on the north wall. Queen post roof trusses, purlins and the lower parts of the rafters below the purlins are exposed.

The adjoining bedroom also has the wall frame and rafters below the purlins exposed. The eastern wall-plate retains sockets for an earlier partition.

The bathroom to the north-west of the staircase has some exposed ends of rafter feet and some weathered framing with a curved brace, originally an external wall. The north-eastern C16 corner post is also visible.

The bedroom to the south-west of the staircase has some exposed wall-framing and an early
C19 ledged plank door.

The west master bedroom retains the tapering brick upper part of the formerly external west chimneystack but with this exception the room is part of the 1970s west extension with wall
frame and queen-post timbers reused, probably from a local barn.

History

A property is shown in the position of Newtons Hill Cottage on a map accompanying the Buckhurst Terrier of 1597-1598. The Buckhurst Terrier was a survey of seventeen manors in north-east Sussex held by Sir Thomas Sackville, the First Earl of Dorset. He was created Lord Buckhurst by Elizabeth 1, acquired the Manor of Withyham c1569 and succeeded Lord Burghley as Lord Treasurer of England in 1599. On this map the road is shown passing immediately to the south of the property so that at that date the principal front of the property was on the south side.

The building appears on the Tithe map of 1842, subdivided into two cottages with gardens. The Tithe Apportionment appears to show one occupied by Sarah Turner who is also the landowner, the other was occupied by Thomas Killick, the landowner registered as Henry Killick. At this date although the road to the south is still shown there is also an additional road shown to the north. On the 1851 Census for Hartfield Thomas Killick is shown as a grocer and draper at Pump House Hartfield.

By the First Edition 25'' Ordnance Survey map of 1875 the building is shown still divided into two cottages, each with an end external chimneystack and with projections on the north side. On the Third Edition sheet of 1910 there is no change in the outline of the cottages but each property has acquired an outbuilding in the grounds.

In 1967 a planning application was approved for the owner of 'New Hill Cottage' to convert two cottages into one, which was granted, and alterations took place between 1971-74. Photographs taken by the owner at the time show that before the works commenced the north side had two C18 lean-to brick bays. These were replaced by a large gabled brick and tile-hung extension and a further bay was added in brick with tile-hanging on the west side. The south side windows underwent alteration and reused timbers for the alterations and extensions came from a three bay barn.

More recently mid C20 bathroom and kitchen fittings have been replaced.

Reasons for Listing

Newtons Hill Cottage, a late C16 timber-framed house, re-fronted in the late C18 and extended and refurbished in the late C20, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Plan form, room use and circulation: the original plan form of a three bay end chimneystack house, probably of lobby entry type, is still readable, with its hall and probably parlour on the ground floor and three chambers above;
* Fittings, fixtures and decoration: include a ground floor open fireplace retaining C16 brickwork and two alcoves above the bressumer and the C16 brick fireplace in the original heated principal chamber above. A number of ceiling beams are chamfered with stops and there are some C18 or early C19 plank doors;
* Proportion of survival: despite two later C20 extensions and a replacement staircase, the building retains the upper floor wall frame, roof structure and some visible ground floor posts together with the external chimneystack and the smaller east chimneystack, which constitute a significant proportion of pre-1700 fabric;
* Date and historic interest: the structure of the building correlates with the property shown on an estate map of 1597-8.

External Links

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