Victoria’s secrets laid bare in rescue restoration

At first sight Victoria Cottage looks beyond a wreck. The windows and roof have gone, the limewash has flaked away to expose the ancient brickwork and a temporary awning covers a tiny, grimy bathroom.

But it is far better than when Anthony Dale first clapped his eyes on it.

The cottage in Lowgate, Sutton, near Hull, had been home to 22 dogs and the attic was full of hundreds of pigeons and their mess.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I have never been in such a nasty space in all my life and I have been in some shocking buildings,” said the volunteer for the Buildings At Risk Trust, which has secured £155,000 to restore and rethatch the building, thought to be Hull’s second oldest domestic dwelling.

“We took away sackloads and sackloads of pigeon droppings and all sorts of nasty things.”

Behind the grime and general air of collapse, there is a fascinating tale to be read in an ancient building that has evolved over the centuries and which is now poised to start a new epoch in its life.

Beams in the earliest part of the cottage are thought to date back to the 1580s – possibly reclaimed from a derelict Tudor timber frame building in the locality, when they went out of fashion.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

At its earliest stage it was probably a single-storey cottage set in land turned over to a few animals and crops; over the years it became three cottages before being consolidated into a farmhouse.

But by the beginning of this century the building was in a sad state, and on the Buildings at Risk Register.

The Buildings At Risk Trust acquired the cottage from its owner in 2009.

Funding which had been promised dried up as the recession bit, but the Architectural Heritage Fund then stepped in, granting cash for an ambitious, pragmatic restoration project, which will see it converted back into two cottages, complete with unabashedly modern 21st century additions.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The larger cottage will be sold off to pay off the £155,000 loan from the Architectural Heritage Fund, the other rented out.

It is hoped the original owner who lived there until 2008 – and after whom the cottage was named – will cut the ribbon when the new cottages are completed.

The Trust arrived on scene in the nick of time, the pantile roof which was never intended for the building having proved way too heavy over time, causing the back wall to splay out.

Mr Dale said: “The structural engineer said in his professional opinion we were three days away from it falling down.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The roof had to be hydraulically jacked up to bring it back to its original height and then braced to hold it in place until the wall is repaired. A temporary roof now covers the front half of the building, and the rest will be watertight by Christmas.

Come next year it will be getting re-thatched to provide two homes that will still be true to their origins as a simple whitewashed cottage, but with swanky Villeroy and Boch bathrooms and Siemens kitchens.

The 1960s fireplace which boxed in the huge open fireplace will be removed and the beauty of the massive curved Bressumer beam which spans the opening revealed again.

Mr Dale says it is increasingly important to look after such vernacular buildings. Unlike our most noted buildings they are all too easily forgotten.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He said: “If it’s St Paul’s Cathedral we all understand the need to preserve it. With a little old worker’s cottage it becomes increasingly important to look after vernacular architecture. You can see the evolutions and the ‘Have a go Harry’ approach to building.”

A disabled man who lives in the village is keen to move in to the rented cottage.

“The big cottage will be sold hopefully to someone local and that sale is predicted to raise enough money to pay the loan back; we are not looking to make a profit,” added Mr Dale.

Architect Paul Duffus’s design ensures that future generations will also be able to “read” the building, with the original walls nestling behind thick layers of insulation, and the additions, obviously new.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mr Dale said: “I personally love seeing things repaired. As a society we are too quick to throw things away and say new is best; it is such a shame not to use things we have got and make the best of them.”

Mr Dale praised Hull Council for its help.

Conservation officer Philip Hampel said Victoria Cottage was probably second only in age to 5, Scale Lane, in the city: “We are just glad of the involvement of BART and look forward to it being fully restored with a thatched roof.

“We are assisting wherever possible to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible.”

Related topics: