Building record 1346/2 - Lapwing Cottage

<1> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, SJ 87 SW 6/125 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

House. Mid seventeenth century. Timber framed with rendered infill and slate roof (probably originally thatched). Two cells, two storeys. Road front: nine by three cells of small framing on rendered plinth. Door to first cell at left. Two 3-light casement windows to ground floor. Roof raised at some time when an extra row of small frame panels was inserted below eaves. Original timber framed gabled dormer with twentieth century three-light casement. Left hand gable end: three by three cells of small framing with angle braces and roof truss of principals and V-strut. Twentieth century wing added to rear and seventeenth century outshut.

<2> Historic England, From 2015, Notification of inclusion, amendment or removal from the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, Goodyear V, 23/06/2022 (Written Communication). SCH7787.

Lapwing Cottage was listed at Grade II in 1982 as an example of a mid-seventeenth century timber-framed cottage. In 2003 the cottage was dismantled, relocated and reconstructed in its present position, some 161m from its original position, to facilitate the expansion of the adjacent quarry. This relocation and the manner of the reconstruction work has resulted in a significant loss of original fabric. Photographic records of the work show that the structure was rotated through 180 degrees, and they confirm that although the appearance of the existing building largely matches that of the List description, it is now a modern structure built of concrete breezeblocks and has become a pastiche, with only the west and south elevations retaining any original fabric. The salvaged timber frame that has been applied externally now functions as a non-structural decorative outer skin, and the north gable is a modern construction with faux timber framing and a chimneystack built externally against the outer face of this gable, in contrast to the original, which rose internally within the body of the cottage. The south gable chimney is a new structure that closely follows the appearance of the original, but it is now false and has no fireplace at its base, only a cupboard. The east elevation of the cottage together with the attached rear range are wholly new structures, which are built of rendered cement blocks and faced in brick; neither contain any original fabric. The use of inappropriate modern materials, such as breezeblock, is not only unsympathetic to the original character and appearance of the building but has also necessitated the use of modern construction methods and techniques. This has included the incorporation of cavity walls that fail to respect the composition and architectural interest of the building’s original form.

Very few historic features survive within the interior. All timber wall posts apart from those to the corners are false and are former floor beams that have been stood on end and applied to the interior surface of the blockwork walls, giving the artificial impression of timber framing. The floor beams are all re-used timbers, but it is unclear whether they were part of the original structure or not. The exposed floor joists do not appear to be original and have modern stained timber attached to the sides to increase their apparent width and age. The plan form of the cottage has also been re-ordered by combining the two ground-floor chambers into a single living room/study. The wall plate of the removed dividing wall has been retained, but its ends now rest in blockwork walls and the centre is supported by a reworked and repositioned secondary timber post. Fragmentary re-used timbers in the south wall of the first-floor corridor may be part of the original structure; however, the pair of principal rafters have been truncated and only one reaches the ridge, while all other rafters and purlins are of modern sawn timber.