Description

TQ 64 SW PEMBURY MAIDSTONE ROAD (south side) 5/388 Nos 1,2, and 3, Hawkwell Cottages 25.11.88 GV II

Row of 3 cottages. The main part was built as a farmhouse, it was, it is said, later used as a public house, and finally divided into 3 cottages. Mid/late C16, enlarged when divided into cottages in the mid/late C19. Timber-framed, partly underbuilt with C19 and C20 facing bond brick, above first floor level main block is timber-framed and clad with peg-tile, rear blocks are plastered and part, at least, is timber-framed; original stack may be timber-framed, others are mid/late C19 brick and all have brick chimneyshafts; peg-tile roof.

Plan: Row of 3 cottages set back from the road and facing north north west, say north. They are numbered 1-3 from right (west) to left. The row is 4 rooms wide and 2 rooms deep. No 1 has the right front and back rooms, No 2 has the centre 2 front and back rooms and No 3 has the left end front and back rooms. The front end rooms have projecting end stacks and the front room left of centre has an axial stack backing onto the left end room. The left rear room is unheated, all the others have rear end stacks. All three cottages have principal rooms in the front block and service rooms behind. The C16 house takes up the 3-room section to left, the front rooms of Nos 2 and 3. It was probably a lobby entrance plan house. Only the centre room was heated originally. The left end room (No 3) ceiling was raised circa 1700 and the attic floor removed.

House is 2 storeys with disused attics over No 2.

Exterior: Regular 4-window front of various late C19 and C20 casements mostly with glazing bars. All 3 cottages have plain plank front doors and the No 2 doorway has a segmental brick arch over. All have C20 gabled porches. Brick is exposed at ground floor level in front of Nos 1 and 2 but No 3 is completely tile-hung (including the end wall). The main roof is gable-ended and each of the rear extensions has a gable-ended crossroof.

Interior: The structural carpentry of the C16 house is well-preserved and shows even on the ground floor. On the first floor it has curving tension braces and includes a couple of blocked windows with diamond mullions. The main room (in No 2) has a roughly chamfered crossbeam towards the chimney breast and a similarly finished axial beam the other side. The fireplace is blocked but its oak lintel is exposed. The left end room (No 3) also has a roughly-finished crossbeam but this one is thought to date circa 1700. It is set above the main rail which includes a large disused mortise in the back wall, thought to be for the original crossbeam. The winder stair in this room rises alongside the main stack and has an old (probably circa 1700) plank door and another to the cupboard below the stair is hung on butterfly hinges. The roof was accessible only in No 2 and is carried on the much-mended remains of the original roof; collared tie-beam trusses with evidence of clasped side purlins, queen struts and curving windbraces. The front room of No 1 is part of the C19 alterations and has plain carpentry detail and a firpelace with a segmental brick arch. The crosswall between this room and No 2 was until 1988 still clad with weatherboards. The C19 roof was not inspected.

Listing NGR: TQ6365742895

External Links

• Wikidata Q26546111

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Recommended Books

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)