Georgian 'Cover Up' - Wiltshire Houses
The Old Rectory, Market Place, Wilton, refronted in the 18th century.
Dating property can be very difficult, what may be typical of a period may actually be a reproduction, scroll to the bottom and see examples from the 20th and 21st centuries. Also, and typical around Wiltshire where wealth sprung up from the wool trade, are many examples of what appear for all intents and purposes to be examples of classical Georgian architecture, and often are, however may actually be hiding a medieval timber framed house. When the Wiltshire Buildings Record had the opportunity to exam the roof of No.11 High Street, Corsham, a building officially Grade II Listed as 17th century, it found evidence of it actually being a 15th century timber framed building that had later been updated, so even experts can get it wrong, often due to not getting full access. Have you ever determined the date of a property by what's carved in stone above the front door? It may actually commemorate an alteration to the building, or even a marriage.
Just as the upvc windows in a Victorian house don't date it nor do Georgian modernisations to medieval houses, planning legislation protecting existing dwellings of architectural merit didn't start to evolve until the 1930s, and until 1968 the fine for illegally demolishing a Listed building was just £100. It was also not until 1968 that permission was required to alter a listed home. 1971 legislation empowered local authorities to create conservation areas, this recognises the importance of lesser buildings when they are part of a group. So, for example, in West Amesbury, where the street scene is important, permission was denied for a new vehicular access through a long cob and thatched wall - which scuppered permission for an additional house, but, on application, allowed for improvements to existing dwellings and the favourable replacement of an existing one (now known as The Old Dairy - see below). The more likely a house is to have been owned by someone wealthy the more likely it is to have survived down the centuries, traditional houses built of wood and cob don't survive if they aren't maintained, and often fires destroyed great swathes of towns and villages built of wood and thatch, though these are sometimes rebuilt in stone. Working class homes are also more likely to have been abandoned as mechanisation meant that fewer farm workers were needed, and they moved to the towns, or were forced into workhouses, so their cottages, or shacks, effectively dissolved back into the landscape. The number of farm workers in Wiltshire in 1871 was 27,000 in 2011 the number involved in agriculture, fishing, and forestry was down to 4,105. So the majority of period houses found in villages are either Georgian, re-faced medieval, or Victorian, just as the majority of older properties found in towns, are Victorian.
Just as the upvc windows in a Victorian house don't date it nor do Georgian modernisations to medieval houses, planning legislation protecting existing dwellings of architectural merit didn't start to evolve until the 1930s, and until 1968 the fine for illegally demolishing a Listed building was just £100. It was also not until 1968 that permission was required to alter a listed home. 1971 legislation empowered local authorities to create conservation areas, this recognises the importance of lesser buildings when they are part of a group. So, for example, in West Amesbury, where the street scene is important, permission was denied for a new vehicular access through a long cob and thatched wall - which scuppered permission for an additional house, but, on application, allowed for improvements to existing dwellings and the favourable replacement of an existing one (now known as The Old Dairy - see below). The more likely a house is to have been owned by someone wealthy the more likely it is to have survived down the centuries, traditional houses built of wood and cob don't survive if they aren't maintained, and often fires destroyed great swathes of towns and villages built of wood and thatch, though these are sometimes rebuilt in stone. Working class homes are also more likely to have been abandoned as mechanisation meant that fewer farm workers were needed, and they moved to the towns, or were forced into workhouses, so their cottages, or shacks, effectively dissolved back into the landscape. The number of farm workers in Wiltshire in 1871 was 27,000 in 2011 the number involved in agriculture, fishing, and forestry was down to 4,105. So the majority of period houses found in villages are either Georgian, re-faced medieval, or Victorian, just as the majority of older properties found in towns, are Victorian.
14th Century
Tallboys, Keevil, Grade I Listed, late 14th century,
though the left wing was added in 1876 to match.
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Place Farmhouse, Tisbury, Grade I Listed, 14th century.
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15th Century
The Court House, Bratton, Grade II*, 15th century.
West Amesbury House, Grade I Listed, 15th century.
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The Porch House, 6-8 High Street, Potterne. Built in 1480, Grade I Listed.
The Sanctuary, Dark Lane North, Steeple Ashton. Circa 15th Century, Listed Grade II*.
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16th Century
A 16th century Grade II* Manor House in south Wiltshire. By their request for the security of its occupants it is not identified.
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Old Chesils, Dark Lane North, Steeple Ashton. Grade II Listed, 16th century
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17th Century
"The wealth of fine houses hidden down picturesque lanes were derived from the woollen industry in the 17th and 18th centuries. West Wiltshire was dominated by a small group of entrepreneurs who controlled the woollen industry as landholders, buyers and employers." (Wiltshire Buildings Record)
Bradbury House, High Street, Seend. Grade II Listed, deeds date back to 1620.
Avebury Manor, Listed Grade I, new front to south in 1601.
Sir James Thynne alms houses, Longbridge Deverill. 1655, Grade II Listed.
Yew Tree Cottage, in Broad Chalke, late 17th/early 18th century, beyond it you can see a cob (mud and straw) wall with a protective thatch coping (capping).
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Timber Cottage, Crockerton Green, Longbridge Deverill. Grade II Listed, 17th Century.
Tudor Cottage, Broad Chalke, 17th Century, Grade II Listed.
Castle Combe - Court Cottage and House, Listed Grade II, pair of cottages, 17th century origins refronted in 18th century.
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18th Century
Little Thatch, late 18th century, Grade II Listed.
The Mill House Grade II Listed 18th century, Mill Lane, Bishopstrow. The left two-thirds were origninally worker's cottages, and the right third the granary, to the attached red brick mill. All that is white is now one house, and the mill converted into one home.
Thatched Turnpike Cottage, Henfords Marsh, Warminster. Late 18th/early 19th Century.
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Bratton House, Grade II*, 1715
Myles Place, 68 Cathedral Close, Salisbury. Grade I Listed, built in 1720. Last sold in 2007 for £6.5m
18th century Stourhead estate cottages, Listed Grade II.
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19th Century
11 Church Street, Steeple Ashton. Grade II Listed, early 19th Century.
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The Small House, Main Street, Keevil, Grade II, circa 1840.
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20th Century
Avebury Manor, west library wing 1907.
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Pikes Cottage, 1938, is believed to have formerly been the cottages for the Pike brothers who worked on the local estate.
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21st Century
Conservation Area examples..
Sympathetically designed Georgian style houses, built in 2000, in Phoenix Square, Pewsey.
Wrights Farm, St Mary's Road, Dinton, Wiltshire. Blending well into its setting of other expensive houses this was built in 2002 in a conservation area, for a director of Savills estate agents.
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The Old Dairy, West Amesbury, built around 2014 in a conservation area, click.
The spring 2021 ugly new house award went to 'What?!@' in the High Street, Sutton Veny. Maybe they wanted to work from home so putting up a house that looks like an office block (in a conservation area) was a good idea?
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