MEM23612 - Halse Cottage and Nether Halse, Halse Lane, Winsford (Building)

The Tithe Map for Winsford shows the buildings now named Nether Halse (northern) and Halse Cottage (southern) at SS 9054 3472. They are linear, orientated north to south abutting Halse Lane to the west and with various extensions to the rear. It appears that the buildings originally continued northwards for a short distance, c.22 metres, but this section was demolished by the time the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map was surveyed. It is not clear whether this demolished section was a subdivided part of the row or part of a larger house, but the 1st and 2nd Edition maps show the remaining buildings subdivided into three or four structures. The property now forms two dwellings. The land parcel in which the buildings are located on the Tithe Map is labelled 652, which is described as "House Malthouse and Garden". This was leased and occupied by William Clatworthy, a maltster, with the property owned by Sir Thomas Dyke Acland and John Kinain. William also owned a large plot of land on Winsford Hill (land parcel 1051a), which was described as furze and pasture. [1-4] In Halse Lane, Halse Cottage and Nether Halse, although not listed, are reputedly quite early. Their long narrow profile, large rendered axial stack and lowered dormers with pent roof (as elsewhere, an indication of former swept thatch eaves), are probably of 17th or 18th Century origin. [5] It is not clear if the demolished section of the property was the malthouse mentioned in the Tithe Map Apportionment, an ancillary structure, or in domestic use. [6] Halse Cottage was the first house used by the village nurse, provided by the District Nursing Association in the 1920s and 1930s. She provided local emergency treatment and attended local births and made regular visits to the sick. She was then moved on to Hope Bungalow. Nether Halse used to be three cottages, built in the 1600s for workers at the Old Malt House, which is now Karslake. The smaller cottage had the District Nurse living in it, with a room and kitchen downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs. The middle and bottom cottages had three bedrooms each, and a kitchen and best parlour. They were bought in the 1950s and converted into one four bedroomed house and a smaller cottage. The cottages were thatched but the roof has been raised and tiled, though some of the original thatch survives in the roofspace. The District Nurse lived in Halse Cottage and threw away medicine bottles into the bank behind the cottage. [7] The Winsford Archive includes a historic photograph of Nether Halse. [8] Winsford was designated as a conservation area in 2023. The new appraisal was produced as part of the adoption of the conservation area. [9]