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Woodcock Cottage |
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Description |
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The cottage is tile-hung above a brick underbuild beneath a tiled roof hipped to each end. The brick-work includes grey headers, in a variation (1 stretcher to 3 headers) on English bond. There is a large external stack against the northern end. There is a two-storey wing at the north-west corner and an addition to the western elevation incorporates a second stack. There is a further single storey addition to south. Four bays can be identified, the bay posts having good jowled profiles; one bay is appreciably narrower. The first floor joisting to two bays is conventionally framed with axial girders; nicely stop-chamfered in the third bay, more crudely so in the fourth. The joisting to the first two bays is markedly different, with pairs of longitudinal girders, and evidence for stud and infill partitioning below one of the mid-ties. The ground floor level in the fourth bay is raised, and this must be associated with later formation of a cellar below. At first floor, some down-bracing is visible on the west elevation and those on the south elevation are full storey height. The framing at the fourth bay is faced towards the south; a doorhead has been cut into the tie on the west wall. The lower parts of queen struts are visible on two of the ties; another the tie has been cut away, close to the eaves plates at each side; there is a storey-height stud close to the north east corner. There were apparently first floor hearths on the north wall, and possibly from the secondary stack on the west wall. Viewed from the fourth bay, the roof appears to be clean throughout, has rafters pegged at the apex, clasped side-purlins with collared queen struts, and wind-bracing is visible towards the hip; a 'flying' collar links the ends of the purlin before the hip on the south end of the roof. ConclusionsThis house has medieval characteristics (plan, bracing style, post profiles), but there are no indications in the roof to suggest there was ever an open hearth. However, the combination of an external stack, one narrow bay and a removed tie all indicate that there was originally a stack of some kind within the narrow bay, and that the external stack was built after it was removed (see picture). The constructional details of the house would correlate with a dating of the mid to second half of the 1500s, but at that time any heating would most likely have been a smoke-bay or timber flue, both of which would have left abundant sooting evidence in the roof. It is just possible that when the stack change was made, the whole roof was re-raftered; could the change have been forced by a fire within the smoke-bay, which made re-framing necessary? There remains the full-height stud close to the northern end of the east wall; this is in the classic position for a garderobe, although there seems to be a short rail now pegged in, which would block this possibility. Could this be a later introduction? |
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| These notes have been compiled from survey reports prepared by Dr Annabelle Hughes. The full reports have been deposited in the Sussex Archaeological Society Library, Barbican House, Lewes where they can be consulted by researchers. | |
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External chimney stack at Woodcock Cottage |
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©2007 Sussex Archaeological Society
