Cotswold Houses (2)

The Tudor House

This is a privately owned house, belonging to our friends. It is not open to the public, but they have very kindly agreed that I can feature it on this post.

It is not your typical Cotswold stone house, but one of a number of Tudor timber framed houses that tend to be found in the lower lying Cotswold vale.

The house is built on a floodplain, and many of the later houses built in the vale have suffered from ingress of water during times of flooding. However, the medieval builders of this property took the added precaution of raising the level of the ground imperceptibly before building the house. When other properties are flooded this little gem, sits, as if on an island surrounded by water, but keeps its feet nice and dry; a salutary lesson from our forefathers.
The same is true of Tewkesbury Abbey built in 1090. During recent flooding in 2007, the worse in recorded British history, Tewkesbury Abbey also remained dry as if it too was on its own little island.

courtesy Daily Mail

This first floor window is thought to have been taken from the stern of a Tudor galleon. However, our friends think that the window was most likely built for the house by someone who was a shipwright by trade. It was a transferable skill, Tudor galleons were built of wooden frames as were Tudor houses.

Can you see the Mistletoe growing on the tree in the background? For some reason it flourishes here in the Cotswold Vales.

The original back entrance

This Cotswold stone building was the dairy. 

Lets venture inside now, and have a look at some of the interesting features.

In this photograph, I am standing on the second staircase, which was installed during the extension of 1700. This shows what would have been the outside of the original house. Here again, it is possible to see a galleon style window, which because it is now indoors has been filled in. 

The hand carved graffiti in one of the bedrooms was probably done by a Stonemason who worked on the extension. 

A beam in the late 18th century extension showing a carving dated 1785.

carved ceiling beams in the older part of the house.

These two pictures show the wattle and daub used for infilling between the timbers. Part of the wall has been exposed and covered with glass. Wattle and daub was a mix of woven split wooden sticks, mud, animal dung, and straw. It was relatively easy to extend a Tudor house, you just added more frames to the front, back, sides or top as you needed.

The inside walls show how the timber structure was used in the construction of the house.

This stairway was put in to the original part of the house when an upper storey was installed. To ascend and descend these stairs is a challenge even when sober. 

Sitting room fireplace

Dining room fireplace

The original Tudor house would have been what was known as a Hall house with a central open hearth with the smoke leaving through a hole in the roof. These two fireplaces would have been a new feature heralding the decline of the Hall houses.

Interesting door furniture has a leather thong to raise and lower the latch.

A nicely carved wooden pull on the other side of the door.

The well is medieval and was in use up until 1930. Most Tudor houses had no sanitary facilities. Water had to be brought from the nearest well and any slops or human waste were just thrown out of the windows! This of course encouraged vermin like rats and mice which led to health problems such as cholera, plague and dysentery.

I cannot resist showing you our friends gorgeous dogs, and how beautifully they harmonise with the house!

It is interesting to reflect on all the lives that have lived in this house over the past almost 500 years. If only it could speak to us.

Very many thanks to our friends for kindly allowing me to show you their beautiful home.


Cotswold Houses (1) here