| Description | Riding Head Farm Cottage, Warley. Now dilapidated. Mid to late 17th century cottages including 16th century building fabric. The cottage is identified on current OS mapping as ruins 40m south east of Riding Head Farm (OS Master Map 2011).
This cottage at Riding Head Farm was the subject of a spot list request report by Peter Thornborrow (Historic Buildings Officer. WYAS) presented to English Heritage in 1997. This was due to the historic interest of the building range and its dilapidated condition (Thornborrow, P.H. (Historic Buildings Officer. WYAS). 1997).
The report, which includes copies of photographic prints, describes the range as mid to late 17th century but with earlier possibly 16th century origins.
The house is of two cells and has a gable entry plan. There are roughly dressed quoins at the south west gable only. The rear and the east gable are back to earth. Only the south east elevation has windows. All windows have dressed stone surrounds with a single chamfer and tie stones. The windows are thus arranged: two light fire window, five light housebody window and four light parlour window. The left hand return has a plinth course and, at left hand corner, the original gable entry door with quoined jambs. This gable formerly had an apex chimney stack which had collapsed at the time of survey.
In the interior to the right of the door entry the original oak plank and muntin fire screen with sill beam and stone base survives. This was formerly to the side of a large inglenook fireplace. A heck post would have formerly supported a firehood set against the gable end. Surviving in the room are two spine beams with broad chamfers which are too short to span the rooms. These would have been supported at the fireplace end by the bressumer. The doorway retains a stop chamfered lintel and arched chamfered door head. Thornborrow makes reference to two earlier photographs which depict a two stage fireplace with shoulders which would have supported beams for a crock loft and roof purlins which had the appearance of re used cruck timbers. These, together with other reused cruck timbers suggested that this was originally a timber framed cruck cottage encase in stone in the 17th century.
Although dilapidated Thornborrow considered this to be a rare survival of a small, single storey 17th century worker’s two cell cottage.
WYAAS archives holds a copy of 1997 plans made by the owners of the property which proposed the reinstatement of the cottage (Evans, E.M.S. and Evans, G.M. 1997). The plans confirm the position of cottage.
English Heritage commented that, while acknowledging the rarity of the building type, the cottage was too fragmentary to merit listing (Pearce, L. (EH Listing Branch). 1998).
WYAS archives holds a small research archive. Items include Historic research and building description from 1995 by J.A. Hegginbottom provides further information regarding the farmhouse and barn with attached labourer's cottage (see PRN 13196) and a copy of 1891 (or 1897?) deeds relating to Riding Head Farm.
It is likely that since 1997 more deteriation has occured (https://maps.google.com/. Web site accessed 24/01/2014). |