The cottage walls feature a burnt header detail, making use of burnt bricks from the old kiln down the lane.
The brief was to provide additional space to allow for a more comfortable and modern living arrangement in the house, while retaining the integral character of the original dwelling. The cottage walls feature a burnt header detail, making use of burnt bricks from the kiln the lane is named after. Burnt headers were a byproduct of the old brick making process. The bricks closest to the fire in a kiln were exposed to much higher temperatures than the rest of the bricks, becoming much harder and denser, while taking on a distinctive dark blue colour. In the original cottage, these bricks were incorporated as occasional feature headers within a Flemish Garden Wall bond. Their presence reflects the pragmatic use of locally available materials, including unwanted or over-fired bricks common with early 19th-century brickmaking.
The extension is finished in bricks to match the existing house, where possible making use of reclaimed bricks.
The house was formed from the merger of 2 very small semi-detached cottages dating from the early 19th century, but still required additional space to make it a viable modern home.
The proposed extension has been designed to be sympathetic in form, subservient in scale, and respectful in character to the historic cottage. It provides a new kitchen at ground floor level and a family bathroom at first floor, allowing the principal rooms within the original house to be used more comfortably, without the need to insert modern facilities in a way that would compromise their proportions or character.
The extension is finished in bricks to match the existing house, and where possible makes use of reclaimed bricks from the existing. This required finding modern versions of the burnt headers that are a feature of the old house.
New paving and landscaping to the rear of the house helped to ensure that the new extension sat comfortably against the original house and in the garden setting, while improving accessibility for the residents.
