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Summary

Previously Laburnum Cottage, Darling Cottage is a Grade II Listed Building dating to the late 16th century. Extended in the mid-19th century.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1325025: LABURNUM COTTAGE

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• HOUSE (2017, XVI to XXI - 1580 AD to 2017 AD (Throughout))

Full description

Passmore, A., 2017, Darling Cottage, Manor Street, Dittisham, Devon, Results of Historic Building Recording (Report - Survey). SDV360339.

The cottage is a two-storey building under a part-hipped roof, set at right angles to Manor Street. It is constructed of local stone bonded in both red-brown earth and lime mortars, finished externally with a lime render coated with several 20th-century paint layers, and with a black band to the base of the walls. It is situated in the northeast corner of the plot, terraced into the hillside that rises up to the west and south. To the east is a parking bay, again terraced into the hillside, and beyond, gardens rise up to the south.

The survey of the cottage in its current state indicates that the building has a different evolution than that put forward in the Listed Building description. This description gives it a late 15th- or early 16th-century date with 17th-century remodelling. It also notes that the roof is heavily smokeblackened, implying origins as an open-halled house.

The general roof style is of a type common in low status late medieval and early post-medieval Devon houses, and a late 15th- or early 16th-century date is possible. The building clearly did not have an open hall and was floored over from the start, which is however indicative of a later date, perhaps in the later 16th century. There is no extensive smoke blackening as the Listed Building description suggests; rather the observed blackening was limited to around the chimney stacks, indicative of smoke emanating from the stacks. Further evidence that the building was floored over from the start was visible in the first floor. Both fireplaces are incorporated within and contemporary with the walls – they were not inserted into the masonry.

There is no clear evidence for 17th remodelling as put forward in the Listed Building description. The surviving early bridging beams display chamfers but no datable stops. The arrangement of the joists, set fully into the top of the beams is an early feature, and perhaps indicates that the beams are primary features. Some of the joists – mainly in the north bay – have been replaced in the 19th century.

Historic England, 2017, National Heritage List for England (National Heritage List for England). SDV359963.

LABURNUM COTTAGE
First Listed - 26th April 1993
List Entry Number 1325025

Cottage. Circa late C15 or early C16, remodelled in C17 and extended in circa C19 and late C20. Stone rubble, roughcast and painted. Asbestos tile roof, half-hipped at the right hand end and gabled at the left hand end. Truncated rear lateral stack is not externally visible. Plan: Situated at right angles with a rear lateral stack and has direct entry from a doorway at the front towards the right hand end. A narrow room has been subsequently partitioned off at the lower right hand end. It is probably part of a larger house which must have extended further to the left although the ground at this end rises steeply. It may have also continued to the right perhaps only one bay because of the road at this end. At least this part of the original house was inserted and a lateral stack built at the back; the house was probably truncated at this time. Probably in the C19 a narrow outbuilding was built set back at the higher left hand end, it was heightened in the C20 and incorporated into the living accommodation. later in the C20 a single storey extension was built at the front of the former outbuilding. Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 2-window east front. 2 circa late C19 or early C20 2-light casements on the first floor with glazing bars. Ground floor has C20 2-light casement to left of centre and a C20 glazled door to the right of centre with a late C20 gabled canopy on brackets. A weathered dripcourse over the left hand ground floor window continues to the left. The extreme right hand end of the front is recessed slightly. The ground is at higher level at the left hand end where there is a wing set back; it has a large C20 plate glass first floor window and has been built out at the front with a late C20 single storey extension. The right hand gable end facing the road has a C20 2-light casement with glazing bars. The ground is at higher level at the back and there are no openings in the rear wall. Interior: A chamfered cross-beam without stops; the other main cross-beam is boxed in. The fireplace in the rear wall has been infilled with a C20 fireplace. Roof: There are 4 trusses with unmchamfered cranked collars morticed into straight principals with 3 tiers of threaded purlins and trenching for the mkssing diagonal ridgepiece. Some of the original rafters ruvive. The roof is smoke-blackened heavily at the right hand end and progresively less blackened towards the left end. The left end truss is close to the left hand end of the range suggesting the house continued further at this end.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7343 - Historic Building Recording - Darling Cottage, Manor Street, Dittisham

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