MEADOW COTTAGE, STOKE ST. MARY

Meadow Cottage. Photograph by alan prime 2001

Maps of 1837 and 1877 show the house [Cedars]as a long building lying parallel to the road, and Meadow Cottage must be a surviving portion of this building. Recent repairs revealed the walls of the cottage to be a patchwork of cob and local Blue Lias limestone, and it seems likely that the cottage represents the kitchen and cross-passage of a 17th century house: the blocked exit-door of the cross-passage is still traceable; the timber uprights of a partition survive, as do the large kitchen hearth and a spiral staircase. The cottage has a later single-storey lean-to additions against its front and side walls. The main part of the present house (the Cedars proper) was probably built in about 1880 and stands at right-angles to Meadow Cottage and the road. It was considerably enlarged within recent years (1977), the north-east kitchen range being demolished and rebuilt to incorporate two additional bedrooms on the first floor.