Building record 2203/0/29 - White Admiral, Swallowtail and Ringlet Cottage, Lutton Road

White Admiral, Swallowtail and Ringlet Cottages are a terrace of three cottages, built to the designs of William Huckvale during the interwar years. The terrance has a rectangular plan and the main building materials are rock-faced limestone with thatch for the roof covering. There is a single storey wash house building to the rear of the terrace. The internal layout of each cottage is typical of cottages of this period, comprising at ground floor, a main sitting room and kitchen. The stairs lead from the entrance hallway to a small first floor landing, from which is accessed two bedrooms and a bathroom. Some orginal internal doors remain and some rooms retain fireplaces and built-in cupbaords

{1} The Ashton Estate, stretching from the River Nene near Oundle in the west to Ashton Wold in the east, has been occupied since Roman times. In the 18th century it was a well-known sporting estate, with avenues of chestnut trees planted in a cross as rides, and a number of fox coverts. In the early 19th century the estate was owned by William Walcot and was largely farmed by tenants, with Ashton Wold continuing as a sporting ground. However, there is no evidence that it had ever contained a manor house, and when in 1860 it was purchased by Lionel Rothschild the sale particulars describe it as 'a very valuable and important landed estate', with sporting advantages, but no house adapted for the occupation of a gentleman. Both Lionel Rothschild and his son Nathaniel Mayer, 1st Lord Rothschild (1840-1915), showed little interest in estate, and the only structural work undertaken in the 19th century was the building of a hunting lodge at Ashton Wold. However, when Lord Rothschild's second son, Nathaniel Charles (1877-1923) - known as Charles - discovered Ashton by accident, he was so impressed by the rich fauna and flora of Ashton Wold that he persuaded his father to build him a house on the site of the hunting lodge. In 1900 Lord Rothschild commissioned William Huckvale to design not only a house, but a model farm, an entire complement of estate buildings which included the Steward's house, stables, gardeners' accommodation, a building to house a fire engine, a petrol store, kennels (now derelict) and a dog hospital. Most of the cottages at nearby Ashton were rebuilt to create a model village. The Rothschilds also became the first landowners in the country to provide their tenants with the luxury of both running filtered water and electricity, the latter generated by turbines housed in an old mill below the village on the River Nene, from where water was pumped to a water tower and so to the estate buildings. Each cottage had a bath house and was placed in a large garden planted with a lilac, a laburnum and fruit trees.

High quality design and workmanship were consistent themes throughout the estate, where traditional vernacular building traditions - Collyweston stone slate and thatch roof coverings, steeply pitched roofs, tall chimneys, limestone masonry walling and dressings and mullioned windows were all faithfully referenced. Simple working buildings - cart hovels, wash houses and potting sheds - were consciously afforded the same care as were the dwellings, farmsteads and garden structures.

This terrace of three cottages is located on Lutton Road, at the edge of Polebrook village. It was built during the interwar period as accommodation for employees of the Rothschild Estate.

White Admiral, Swallowtail and Ringlet Cottages are a terrace of three cottages, built to the designs of William Huckvale during the interwar years. The terrace has a rectangular plan and is laid out on a north/south alignment. The main building materials are rock-faced limestone, with thatch for the roof covering.

The terrace is built in Vernacular Revival style in keeping with the estate design ethos. Two stone chimney stacks break the ridge line of the hipped roof which arches over each of the first floor windows articulating each bay. The facade treatment is plain with minimal detail. There are three-light, stone mullioned windows with leaded lights and hood moulds to the principal elevation, and timber entrance doors that are half glazed, and painted in the estate colour. The flank elevations are plain with a single window at each floor. The rear elevation is treated in similar fashion and has two-light stone mullioned windows.

There is a single-storey washhouse building to the rear of the terrace built in a complementary style to the cottages in matching materials.

The internal layout of each cottage is typical of cottages of this period, comprising at ground floor, a main sitting room and kitchen. The stairs lead from the entrance hallway to a small first floor landing, from which is accessed two bedrooms and a bathroom. Some original internal doors remain, and some of the rooms retain fireplaces and built-in cupboards. The interiors of these cottages have been thoroughly refurbished to contemporary standards.

White Admiral, Swallowtail and Ringlet Cottages, Lutton Road, Polebrook, Northamptonshire are not recommended for designation for the following principal reasons: This terrace does not share the quality of design and craftsmanship of other already listed buildings that form part of the Ashton Estate, and does not compare well with other listed examples of this type.

<1> ENGISH HERITAGE, English Heritage Listing File, Heritage Protection Adviser, 28th October 2009 (Report). SNN111579.

Record last edited

Feb 17 2025 6:57PM