Kytes Cottage update

At Market Lavington Museum, we take an interest in the history of our village and neighbouring Easterton. We have featured number 10 High Street, Kytes Cottage, Market Lavington, before, both as the venue for engine rallies and looking at the building itself in Kytes Cottage, then and now.

Most of us locals will remember it as a house clad in what was called ‘rough casting’ in its grade two listing. (Descriptions of the listed properties in Market Lavington can be found at the back of Brian McGill’s ‘Village under the Plain’ book, on sale for £10 at the museum.)

During building work in early 2023, the timber framework of this 17th century cottage was exposed and the building was wrapped in plastic whilst decisions and permissions regarding its future were considered.

More recently, the view of the house has been partially obscured by scaffolding, but it has now rejoined the street scene with its new/former identity.

We often call buildings like this Tudor houses though, in fact, the Tudor monarchy ended with the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603. If this is a 17th century building, it might have been built in Stuart (or Commonwealth) times. Whatever, its timber framework is now on display, adding an interesting style to the rows of old buildings in the village centre.

Of course, newly built timber framed houses normally had their natural light or darker brown wood exposed and it was the Victorians who started painting the woodwork black.

Maybe someone with more knowledge of this delightful building could let us know when its structure was originally covered with rough casting.