MSO10627 - Bridge Cottage, Wootton Courtenay (Building)

The cottage has an attached stable with loft on its western end. It probably dates to the late 17th or early 18th Century and may or may not have functioned as an inn in the 19th Century, called the Rising Sun Inn.

Cottage, including loft over stable. Probably late C17-early C18, altered mid C20. Rendered over rubble and cob, thatched roof half hipped to left, hipped to right, 2 large lateral stacks rising at rear, one with chimney renewed in brick. Plan: probably 2 single cell dwellings with attached farm building. Two storeys, C20 fenestration, dormer rising from eaves centre, 3-light casement set below eaves right, loft door beyond, ground floor 3 windows left, one right of entrance, plank door, stable door below loft opening end bay right, attached lean-to dwelling right return. Left return 2 C20 windows, rear elevation left stack with glazed opening in chimney brest and similar at first floor level. Interior not seen. [1] English Heritage Listed Building Number: 265402. First Listed on 05/06/1985. [2] Earth, Stone, Render walls. Hipped, Half-hipped roof [3] The buildings were visited in May 2012 as part of the rapid condition survey of Exmoor's Listed Buildings 2012-13. They received a BAR score of 6. [4] Bridge Cottage has a characteristic shouldered lateral stack with tall stone shaft to the rear. It has a thatch roof with "eyebrow" eaves, render and small timber casement windows, typical 17th or early 18th Century features. The building dates from the late 17th or early 18th Century and probably began as two single cell cottages with an attached farm building with a loft over a stable. It was altered in the mid 20th Century and is now a single dwelling. It is built of stone rubble and cob, rendered over with a hipped thatch roof. [5] The 2018 Conservation Area Appraisal contains a similar description to that written in 2003 [5]. [6] The Tithe Map for Wootton Courtenay labels this property 348a, which the Apportionment describes as "The Rising Sun Inn: House", owned by the Right Honorable Lord Sherborne and Thomas Baker, and occupied by Thomas Baker. It is therefore possible that the house functioned as an inn at this time. N.B. Savage writes in 1830 that "there is no inn in this village". [7,8] The building is not labelled on the 25 inch 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map; it is also shown as subdivided into three sections. [9] The building is depicted and labelled Bridge Cottage on the 2020 MasterMap data. [10] The building was assessed as part of the 2018-19 rapid condition survey of Exmoor’s Listed Buildings, receiving a BAR score of 6. [11]