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House History Workshop V
Background information on the two Painswick Mills
Article to Painswick Beacon
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House History Workshop V
Location: Gloucestershire
Elements of Coltswold Architecture
Introduction
The wide variety of individual styles of houses and cottages within the Cotswolds reflects not only the characteristics of the local building materials and the period in which they were built, but also the social/economic status of the occupier.
They can be broadly categorised as:
Labourers/weavers cottages
Farmhouses
Clothiers/merchants houses
There are a number of former industrial and agricultural buildings, which have been converted into dwellings (one of the earliest must be a house in Edge Lane dating from c1800, which started life as a barn).
Many buildings have evolved over a period, being extended or altered to meet changing fashions. Dating of a building and further understanding of its history may be understood by looking at individual elements in its construction:
1. Floor-plans
2. Walls
3. Roof construction and chimney stacks
4. Windows and doors
5. Internal features
There are many books on the subject, a few of which are listed at the end. Most are available in larger public libraries or may be found in second-hand bookshops.
1. Floor plans
A typical labourer’s cottage in the 17th/18th century would have been a single ground floor room and bedroom above accessed by a ladder or possibly a spiral staircase wrapped around the chimneystack at the end of the house. Later additions might include a porch and a scullery/kitchen. In the 19th century cottages might have two rooms downstairs and a central staircase. In the Stroudwater area weavers’ cottages would often have an additional storey, incorporating a gable to accommodate looms.
Farmhouses had variety of plans, the earliest, dating back to the medieval period, based on a cross-passage with a hall on one side and service rooms on the other. These rooms were usually integrated by the 17th century, with a chimney inserted at one end and the hall divided horizontally to create an upper floor.
The cross-passage gave way to the baffle- or lobby-entry plan, often having back-to-back fireplaces, serving a kitchen one side and parlour the other. Staircases reflected the size and status of the house, but took up precious space; sometimes a solution was to build an external stair tower.
2. Walls
Early cottages would have been timber framed with wattle and daub infill, even in an area where stone was common. Later a new frontage might be added in stone, hiding the earlier exterior. Stone construction for houses in this area date back as early as the 15th century but these are few; most are of 17th and 18th century and are built of stone from local quarries, mainly located on common land eg. Juniper Hill, Painswick Hill and Rudge Hill.
The deep seams of stone found in this area produced stone of a good size, which could be sawn or chiselled into a rectangular shape, allowing it to be laid in regular courses. Although still known as rubblestone, the Painswick stone contrasts with the shallow-bedded stone found many parts of the Cotswolds, which needs to be bedded in thick mortar. A layer of limewash (or occasionally stucco), often coloured, would be added for protection against the elements. Grander houses often used precisely cut ashlar stone, which required very little mortar.
3. Roof Construction
The cruck frame is the simplest construction associated with medieval houses (and continued in cottages as late as the 18th century), which used a split tree to form a single frame for the roof and the walls. This limited the height of a building and crucks would be raised on plinths or box frames to increase height. Bell Cottage in Friday Street has a cruck construction, now hidden by the adjacent development.
The most common local roof construction is an A frame set upon a stone wall. This allows greater flexibility roof design and general layout including cross-gables and additional wings.
The earliest houses, even in the Cotswolds would have been thatched; stone would normally only have been used for higher status buildings before the 18th century. (ref: The Pattern of English Building by Alec Clifton-Taylor). Thatch is still often seen in the north Cotswolds but is unusual in this locality. Perhaps stone slate roofs were more prevalent here from an earlier date? A steep pitch, required by both, allows generous attic space, which was often utilised for weaving, lit by windows in the gable-end.
The introduction of clay tiles allowed lighter roof timbers to be used and they are often found on outbuildings and cottages from the 18th century onwards.
Medieval hall houses had a central fire with roof vents but these were normally replaced with a chimney during the 16th century. Timber frame cottages used either stone or brick to construct chimneys on an end wall, while larger properties might have a central stack allowing all rooms in the house to be heated. Many of the 18th and 19th century cottages in Painswick have brick chimneys, which were cheaper and more robust but larger houses have tall stone stacks.
4. Windows and doors.
The necessity for light had to be balanced against loss of heat through draughty openings; so early windows were. Glass was a luxury in medieval times and the poor would have relied on shutters to keep out the cold. Vellum or slivers of horn might be used and glass when available was in very small pieces; lead strips were needed to fix the pieces together.
Technological advance made glass cheaper and available in panes. Early 18th century sash windows had thick glazing bars but eventually larger panes allowed finer glazing bars to be used. Not until the mid-19th century were there significant improvements in mass production, which would make glass widely available, allowing larger windows with larger panes of glass. Hence the size of window opening is another indicator of the age of a building.
The most common window form in this area is the stone mullioned window having two or three openings. The design of the mullions varied at different times, though there are few hard and fast rules. Timber was also used, often for less prominent windows. Iron casements were set into the stone and leaded lights held in place with iron or timber bars. Above the window (and doors) a drip or label moulding threw rain off the wall above the opening.
Doors were traditionally simple plank and the earliest may be under a Tudor arch. Seventeenth century buildings of higher status might have engraving indicating the house ownership and, if it belonged to a clothier, his woolmark.
Internal features
Few houses remain in their original state as alterations are made to meet improved standards of privacy, hygiene and comfort. Internal partitions are inserted or removed but will often leave clues in different materials. The traditional large stone surrounded fireplace is often revealed behind later ‘implants’. Finer examples will have a chamfered edge and perhaps a vase stop or even carved initials, a date or some decorative design.
Exposed beams are generally found in 17th century buildings but became unfashionable and may be covered in plaster or show marks of a key for plaster. Ceiling heights may be lower in older properties but status is a significant factor and low ceilings in an extended cottage will betray its humbler origins and often ceilings were raised to ‘improve’ a house.
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