Building record 312/0/1 - Dolphin Cottage

<1> Historic England, 2011, The National Heritage List for England, 1136247 (Web Site). SCH6528.

Cottage, early C17, Brick nogged timber frame with tile roof. Single storey and attic, 2 bays with later, brick, lean-to at west gable. Sandstone plinth, rectangular panelling with rails at windows and at first floor level. Boarded door under bracketted gabled canopy with curved braces, in apex, and shaped barge boards with finial. Windows are mainly 3-light leaded casements with gudgeon-hung opening lights, those at first floor level in gabled dormers with barge boards and finials. East gable is painted brickwork but there is timber framing at the rear. Gable barge boards and gable end stacks. Interior: Bevelled beams and exposed ceiling joists.

<2> Peter de Figueiredo (Independent Consultant), 2013, Dolphin Cottage, Long Lane, Spurstow, Cheshire: Heritage Statement, R4662 (Client Report). SCH9345.

Heritage statement produced in 2013 for Dolphin Cottage, Spurstow. The 17th century cottage was renovated in the late 19th century, and altered and extended in the late 20th century. It occupies a rural setting in the parish of Spurstow, six and a half miles north west of Nantwich. The manor of Spurstow was part of the Crewe Estate in the 18th and 19th centuries until the land was sold in the 1930s.

The 1839 Tithe map shows the cottage and all the surrounding land was then in the ownership of the third Baron Crewe, who remodelled Crewe Hall in 1837, and rebuilt it after it was destroyed by fire in 1866. The Tithe apportionments of 1839 show that the building immediately to the south east of Dolphin Cottage (described as a house) and the paddocks surrounding it were occupied by George Harding, presumably a tenant farmer. For some reason, perhaps because it was vacant or derelict at the time, Dolphin Cottage itself and the small plot on which it is situated (Plot no. 262) were not apportioned to any specific occupier. The 1875 and 1910 OS maps show little change.

The cottage, built in the early 17th century, was a simple two-unit plan, probably consisting of a parlour and kitchen/pantry on the ground floor and two bedrooms above. It is single storey with the upper rooms within the attic. The timber framing is of box form, characteristic of the early 1600s, and rests on a stone plinth. Originally it would have been roofed in thatch. The location of the original staircase is unclear, but it would probably have been a ladder up the attic.

The house was renovated in the late 19th century, presumably by the Crewe Estate. Changes made included rebuilding the south-east gable wall in brick, replacing the infill panels to the remaining timber frame in brick, building two brick chimneys, and adding two dormer windows on the north-east side and the bracketed and gabled canopy to the front entrance. The timber windows with iron casements, ironmongery and leaded lights on the north-east elevation also date from this period. At the same time the roof was renovated, retaining the original purlins, but with new rafters and clay tiles. Decorative bargeboards were fixed to the north west gable end. A cobbled path was laid along the north east front of the cottage, and the garden was bounded with hedges and laid out as an orchard. Other buildings in Spurstow, such as the school, were designed for Lord Crewe in the 1870s by the Nantwich architect Thomas Bower, who may also have been responsible for the renovation of Dolphin Cottage.

In the late 20th century, the cottage was extended and once again comprehensively refurbished. The extension consisted of a new kitchen and cloakroom with rear entrance on the ground floor, and an additional bedroom above. The floor level of the extension is two steps lower than the original cottage to provide additional headroom. The three matching dormer windows on the south west elevation date from this period. Internal alterations include the present staircase, doors and fireplaces.