Broadway Lodge

Pictured left Broadway Lodge in 1999, before renovation work commenced, shrouded in ivy and boarded up.

The original building, we believe dating to the 17th century, was a square two up, two down; predominantly of timber frame construction with brick in-fill. At some stage, probably the early 1800s a single storey stone built extension, taken up to the roof line, was added. This provided a kitchen downstairs and an eaves style cupboard upstairs. Finally in the 1950/60s a single storey brick and block extension was added onto the stone extension to provide a downstairs bathroom and toilet.

As mentioned, when we started the house was derelict. The rear chimney stack had collapsed, causing most of the roof to fall in. Amazingly, the suspended timbers were so substantial that the chimney and roof came to rest at first floor level and did not damage the ground floor. With the exception of the rear wall of the stone extension the ground floor, including a domed bread oven, was intact.

Our first priority was to rebuild the chimney and roof. At the suggestion of our builder, a local man with a lifetime of experience in renovating old buildings, we raised the roof line to one side by eighteen inches providing a continuous slope over the 20th century extension. As well as being imperceptible from the front of the house this had two major benefits; firstly it helped to integrate the extension, dramatically improving its appearance; and secondly, enlarging the upstairs eaves cupboard to provide an additional single bedroom and bathroom. To make the building structurally sound, metal ties were used to bind the walls together and a reinforced wall was added to the side to provide further support to the walls. To soften the impact of the wall, an arch supported by an ancient oak beam was incorporated.

On the ground floor the main problem was a 5 foot 6 inch head height in the original part of the house. The flooring, consisting of slate tiles laid in dirt had to be removed and the floor dug out. However, the shallow foundations meant that we were only able to gain an extra 7-10 inches. Once the plasterboard ceilings and walls were removed exposing the wooden beams and half-timbered walls, the atmosphere of the building changed to be a welcoming and authentic country cottage. Many of the original floor tiles were damaged beyond repair, although the remainder have been used in the inglenook fireplaces.

The front reception room inglenook provided us with a running commentary on life in the cottage. To start it was completely filled with a 1950/60s style tiled fireplace probably added at the same time as the extension. Renewal of the wall plaster exposed the massive Bessemer showing that we were dealing with a considerable size inglenook. Behind the tiled fireplace we uncovered a further Victorian fireplace still in situ. Amazingly, further excavation uncovered third fireplace, a wood burning grate, buried in the rubble. After the removal of tons of rubble we were left with a large inglenook perfect for roaring open fires. Removal of rubble from the rear reception room fireplace uncovered the opening into the bread oven. The interior of which, a round dome shape was in remarkably good condition when compared to the rest of the house. In the extensions all the internal walls were removed, and, with the bathroom moved upstairs, we were able to make a large kitchen/ dining room and a downstairs cloakroom.

Virtually all the windows in the house were rotten beyond repair and had to be replaced. At the front, the windows were very old and attractive diamond leaded lights. Unfortunately, the frames were so rotten that many of the lead panels had fallen out into the garden. Thankfully, we were able to recover all the panels and a carpenter made new frames in which they were inserted. No mean feat given the irregular shape of both the panels and the window openings.