Building record 14213 - Site of Smithy Cottage, Church Lane, Hargrave

<1> Kathryn Sather Associates, 2013, Proposed Residential Development, Smithy Cottage, Chapel Lane, Hargrave, Cheshire: Heritage Appraisal, R4142 (Client Report). SCH8430.

Heritage assessment produced in 2013 for Smithy Cottage, Chapel Lane, Hargrave, in advance of proposed demolition and re-development. Smithy Cottage is an example of an unlisted vernacular cottage, of late eighteenth or early nineteenth century date. It has two storeys, with external walls of stone and brick covered in render and hung concrete tiles. The gable roof is covered in large slates, with one brick chimney stack to the east end. The gable ends of the roof have stone kneelers and coping stones.

The 1838 Foulk Stapleford Parish Tithe map depicts Smithy Cottage within its enclosed site, bordered to the south, west and north by an area of common land named Hargrave Stubbs. Hargrave Stubbs was enclosed by an Act of Parliament in 1870. Smithy Cottage may, originally, have been built as a field barn on the edge of the common land as it is not mentioned in the tithe apportionment, whereas houses generally are. The plot within which the building sits is identified as for mowing and pasture and was owned and occupied by Richard Thompson.

The 1875 OS map documents two small extensions to the cottage to the northeast and southeast. Church Lane has been created to the south, along with the access lane. The site of the cottage appears unaltered, but surrounding field boundaries document the enclosure of the common ground. The 1898 OS map details a very small outbuilding to the east of the cottage. On later OS maps and aerial photographs the cottage and site appear unaltered.

Photographs from the early twentieth century document the external appearance of the cottage with the large stone blocks to the ground floor of the front façade and bricks to the first floor. The side elevation is shown to have large stone blocks to the ground and first floor, with possibly brick under the gable. The exterior walls were whitewashed. The cement tiles and render of the exterior were reportedly added in the early thirties. Another photograph shows the rear of the property with whitewashed brick extension and a brick paved area. Later alterations include rebuilding the chimney, replacement of windows and doors and the replacement of extension roofs.