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Summary

Grade II listed 17th century or earlier cottage, associated with the First Battle of Newbury

Associated Legal Designations or Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1291090: BIGG'S COTTAGE

Other Statuses and Cross-References

• Old Listed Building Ref (pre 1984) (II): Map No 33 5/69 Biggs Cottage, Biggs Hill
  Upgraded to II. Amend to read:- Biggs Cottage, Biggs Hill Amend description to read:- C.17. or earlier timber framed cottage, with later brick infill and re-building on one end wall. Thatched roof, half hipped at one end, hipped over a lower, part weather boarded bay at the other. The framing appears to be in one long and two shorter bays, with a narrow bay through which rises the chimney which appears at the ridge. One storey and attic dormers. varied small modern casements, and a projecting square bay.
• Old Listed Building Ref (pre 1984) (II): map No 33 5/69 Biggs Cottage
  C.17. Timber framed and brick with thatched roof and central brick stack. 1 S and attic. Casements, some with leaded lights. Two window front. For amended description see page 13D
• Old Listed Building Ref (pre 1984): Biggs Cottage
  

Monument Type(s):

• TIMBER FRAMED HOUSE (17th century to Victorian - 1601 AD? to 1901 AD)

Full Description

Bigg's Cottage is a Grade II listed 17th century or earlier cottage with 20th century additions. It is described as timber framed with brick nogging. It has a half hipped thatched roof with central stack on ridge and two dormers <1>.

The Parliamentarian Earl of Essex is reputed to have stayed the night at Bigg's Cottage before the First Battle of Newbury <2><3>. Money described it in the early 20th century as 'an old-world tenement', and hoped it 'may long be preserved as an historic landmark' <3>. Coins of the Civil War period were reputedly found in an old well, perhaps during the 19th century, as well as a diamond ring <3>.

A photograph in West Berkshire Museum shows the building around 1957 (noted as formerly part of the Craven Estate) <6>. The Museum of English Rural Life has the banner from Enborne and Hampstead Marshall Women's Institute <9> which depicts Bigg's Cottage to represent Enborne.

The cottage is named on the First Edition Ordnance Survey mapping <7> and identified on the 1840 Tithe map <8>.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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