|
The Lost World -
A Living Miniature Cottage Landscape
The aim was to re-create an old rural landscape in which I could build a permanent and genuine record of Britain's beautiful old cottages; a factual chronicle of the materials used and the evolution of vernacular building methods. |
| Teapot Hall
Featured in most of the books written about cottages over the years. Here is an example of the basic cruck structure. Slate was used below the thatch. The cottage was burned on V.J. night.
(Top) |
 |
|
Cruck Cottage
Shows the improvements which cruck buildings underwent. A 'catslide' extension of the thatch shelters the outshot woodshed, this is clad with weatherboarding.
(Top) |
 |
|
Wealdon
The ultimate in timber, vernacular building, with a wattle and daub infilling between the timbers. It has an open hall, with smoke gablets at each end of the roof. The support for the upper story overhanging the lower is called a jetty.
(Top) |
 |
|
Hodson Cottages
Rubblestone walls with a bread oven jutting from the back wall, the chimney is of brick. The two cottages demonstrate the styles which reflect the differing status of rural workers. The smaller cottage is pictured at the top.
(Top) |
 |
|
The Magilligan Cottier House
I went to Northern Ireland to measure and photograph this cottage at the Ulster Folk Museum. Its thatch is roped down, against the wind. This is a style seen in many coastal areas in the north. The chimney is of sod, which is often used as a building material in this type of dwelling.
(Top) |
 |
|
Thomas Hardy's Cottage
This is his birthplace where he wrote 'Far From The Madding Crowd'. Built of cob faced with brick at the front. This is how the cottage looked when Hardy lived there.
(Top) |
Front View
|
|
Willy Lott's Farmhouse
This is the lath and plaster faced, timber framed house seen in John Constable's famous painting 'The Hay-Wain'. It has a terra cotta tiled roof. This building passed to the National Trust in 1943 and was leased to the Field Studies Council in 1944 who keep it in good repair along with the Trust; the house is now used for Field Studies student accommodation.
(Top) |
Reflection from mill pond |
| |
|
