Summary

Cottage, c.1600 with C18 and C19 alterations and extensions.

Description

Cottage, c.1600 with C18 and C19 alterations and extensions.

MATERIALS: oak frame with brick infill, the latter replacing wattle and daub in the right-hand bay, though possibly original in the later left-hand bay. Clay tiled roof.

PLAN: the one-and-a-half-storey C17 front range comprises two roughly equal bays, with two rooms on each floor separated by the staircase. Behind and at right-angles to the right-hand bay is a C19 single-storey extension containing a kitchen and external privy. Behind the left-hand bay is a modern flat-roofed extension which is excluded from the listing.

EXTERIOR: the front range preserves substantial elements of its original timber frame - long concealed beneath a thick layer of cement render that is currently (2013) being removed. At the time of writing, the frame is fully exposed only in the left-hand end wall, which is of square-framed panels on a flint and chalk plinth with a modern brick stack. Removal of render on the right-hand end wall has exposed portions of the frame here also, including one corner post where the stub of the base cruck is still visible. Windows and dormers are all modern, as is the front door.

INTERIORS: more of the timber structure can be seen inside the front range, including jowled corner posts with the remains of crucks still visible, framing to the side and rear walls and (at first-floor level) wall-plates showing evidence of the raising of the eaves. The ceiling structure in the right-hand bay comprises a heavy stop-chamfered spine beam supporting pairs of joists. In the rear wall are the remains of a C18 brick hearth with a (truncated) timber bressumer and the remains of a bread oven, within which a smaller brick fireplace has been inserted. The stair rises laterally between the two bays, in an enclosure formed by stud partitions infilled on the ground floor by face-set brickwork. At the top of the stair, the central tie-beam has been cut through to form a doorway; the door itself, which has been carefully cut down to fit the opening, has raised and fielded panels and H-L hinges. One of the upstairs rooms has a corner fireplace with a late-C19 cast-iron surround. The roof timbers exposed in the attic space are late-C19 replacements in sawn softwood.

History

The earliest part of the present building – the right-hand (south) bay of the main front range – represents the remains of a base-cruck building, probably a small cottage, of c.1600, with a second bay to the north added slightly later. Later still, probably during the C18, the roof was raised, with trusses replacing the original crucks; this allowed the first-floor rooms to become fully habitable, and an enclosed stair was inserted between the two bays to give access to them. At around the same time a fireplace and stack were inserted in the rear wall of the right-hand bay.

By the late C19 the cottage, which originally stood some distance away from the riverside village of Caversham, had been absorbed into the suburbs of Reading. A programme of renovation appears to have been undertaken during this period, including the renewal of the roof timbers and the building of a rear extension. A further extension was added in the later C20.

Reasons for Listing

82 Star Road, a cottage originally of c.1600, is listed for the following principal reasons:

* Early fabric: the building retains substantial elements of its early C17 timber frame, as well as C18 elements;
* Rarity: the earliest part of the building represents a single-cell cruck-framed cottage, an example of an extremely basic rural dwelling-type that seldom survives in legible form;
* Legibility: the evolution of the building from a tiny one-room cottage in the early C17 to a five-room dwelling in the late C19 remains clearly legible.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26607753

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)