ESSAY 
 
 ON 
 
 BRITISH COTTAGE ARCHITECTURE, 
 
 V. GRIFFITHS, PRINTER, TATERNOSTER-ROW, 
 
 1798 , 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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A N 
 
 O N 
 
 BRITISH 
 
 COTTAGE ARCHITECTURE: 
 
 BEING 
 
 An Attempt to perpetuate on Principle, that peculiar mode of Building, which was 
 originally the effect of Chance. 
 
 SUPPORTED BY 
 
 WITH 
 
 Their Ichnography, or Plans, laid down to Scale; comprising Dwellings for the Peasant 
 and Farmer, and Retreats for the Gentleman; with various Observations thereon: 
 
 THE WHOLE EXTENDING TO 
 
 TWENTY-ONE PLATES, 
 
 DESIGNED AND EXECUTED IN AQUA-TINTA. 
 
 BY JAMES MALTON. 
 
 “ To me more dear, congenial to my heart, 
 
 “ One native charm, than all the glofs of art.” 
 
 Goldfmitb. 
 
 lonDon: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY HOOKHAM AND CARPENTER, BOOKSELLERS, OLD BOND-STREETj 
 ND T0 BE " AD ATT AYLOR's ARCHITECTURAL LIBRARY, HOLBORN; AT ECERTON’S MILITARY LIBRARY, 
 WHITEHALLJ OF MR. WILKINSON, MAP AND PRINT-SELLER, CORNHILL J AND OF THE AUTHOR, 
 
 NO. 1 7, NORTON-STREET, PORTLAND-PLACE. 
 
 M.DCC.XCVIII, 
 
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INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In offering to the public this small essay on British Cottage 1 
 Architecture, I am most forcibly influenced by a desire to 
 perpetuate, with my share of ability, the peculiar beauty of 
 the British, picturesque, rustic habitations ; regarding them, 
 with the country church, as the most pleasing, the most suit¬ 
 able ornaments of art that can be introduced to embellish 
 rural nature a . With a view to the above purpose, the fol¬ 
 lowing designs were made. They are constructed upon the 
 
 a Rural nature, I am aware, implies country scenes in general; but I have given myself the habit 
 of dividing country scenes into three classes : the favage * ; the grand f ; and the rural J; which, ac¬ 
 cording to the judicious distinction made by Mr. Price, in his excellent Essay on the Picturesque, I 
 would more particularly express by defining each as follows : the savage, sublime, and picturesque; the 
 grand and beautiful; the beautiful and picturesque. By the former, I conceive such scenes as generally 
 form the subjects of the landscapes of Salvator Rosa, and frequently of Loutherbourg. By the second, 
 such scenes of splendid beauty as particularise the pencil and conception of Claude and Poussin. And 
 by the latter, those more confined, though not less interesting, views of domestic seeming, where the 
 Cot is more in character with the surrounding concomitants than would be a Castle or a Temple. Such 
 are the works of many, and the celebrated Ruysdael above all others. 
 
 * One bold, sublime, where, on some rock’s vast brow, 
 A massy crown! the castle rears its tow’rs 
 In stately majesty ! Down, down amain 
 Foams the vast cataraCt! At distance far 
 His lab’ring bosom ocean lifts to heav’n ! 
 
 More near, ’midst broken rocks, o’erspread with weeds 
 Of varied tint and flow’r, winds the deep road j 
 Umbrageous beech his giant-arms extends, 
 
 With graceful poplar and the mountain ash, 
 
 Shad’wing its course from view. Low at your feet. 
 The gnarled trunk of some age-founder’d oak 
 (Three hundred years that bore stern winter’s wrath) 
 Lies prostrate fall’n ! Spreads the broad dock around 
 Her leaves enormous, emulous to shade 
 His fading honours from unhallow’d eye ! 
 
 B 
 
 A 
 

 2 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 principles conceived of the subject, after a careful examin¬ 
 ation of whatever, through a long search, I have collected, 
 and judged conducive thereto. These are humbly presented 
 as hints to those Noblemen and Gentlemen of taste, who 
 build retreats for themselves, with desire to have them ap¬ 
 pear as cottages, or ere£t habitations for their peasantry or 
 other tenants : And to the Farmer, as a guide in the con¬ 
 struction of his dwelling, that it may agree and correspond 
 with the surrounding scenery. 
 
 O J 
 
 t Observe an holy sacrifice display 
 
 Its solemn pomp ; bending its tardy way 
 To where yon temple rears its lofty head 
 On graceful pillars, in th’ embow’ring shade. 
 
 A long flat bridge extends from side to side 
 On equal arches, o’er a sedgy tide, 
 
 Whilst at its foot high-branching trees ascend, 
 
 And to the stream a deeper shadow lend. 
 
 On gently-swelling hills the landscape glows, 
 
 And swain and sheep, oppress’d by noon, repose. 
 
 Then springs th’aspiring wood, but springs in vain, 
 
 Another wood surmounts, and that the main. 
 
 Nor here the spacious picture must conclude, 
 
 Beyond the main still springs another wood: 
 
 And still, beyond that wood, blue mountains rise, 
 
 That softly fade amid surrounding skies. 
 
 t Close in the dingle of a wood, 
 
 Obscur’d with boughs, a Cottage stood ; 
 Sweet-briar deck’d its lowly door^ 
 
 And vines spread all the summit o’er. 
 
 An old barn’s gable-end was seen, 
 Sprinkled with nature’s mossy green, 
 Hard on the right, from whence the flail 
 Of thrasher sounded down the vale : 
 
 A vale, where many a flow’ret gay 
 Sipt a clear streamlet on its way : 
 
 A vale, above whose leafy shade 
 The village steeple shews its head. 
 
 \ 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 3 
 
 1 have endeavoured, in the progress of fourteen designs, 
 to advance the subject in regular gradation, from a peasant’s 
 simple hut, to a habitation worthy of a gentleman of fortune. 
 The designs, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, are of the first description, 
 viz. peasant’s huts ; designs, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11, are of 
 the second description, for the farmer, or retired gentleman 
 of small fortune. And before such buildings, as designs 12, 
 13, and 14, I conceive a splendid equipage might be drawn 
 up, and not appear an inappropriate appendage. 
 
 From an early and continued partiality to this subject, I 
 have sought for and examined many works and drawings in- 
 titled, “ On Cottage Architecturebut have never found 
 any that corresponded with my idea of cottage construction. 
 Of the number I have looked into, several might, with more 
 propriety, be stiled grotesque ; and under such appella¬ 
 tion, would be entitled to their share of approbation. Others 
 have composed fanciful, and sometimes whimsical combina¬ 
 tions of forms, not always practicable in their execution, and 
 which have rather sported with the eye than satisfied the taste 
 or judgment. Most have exhibited pleasing collections of 
 regular dwellings of brick or stone, or both, very neat and 
 convenient, and such as are, I had almost said, too frequently, 
 to be met with in the environs of our populous towns ; but 
 none have, in my estimation, possessed those singular pro¬ 
 perties, characteristic of that species of building distinguished 
 by the name of Cottage. 
 
 Many are the wrong ideas conceived of these rural fa- 
 bricks ; any small building, particularly if it be but covered 
 
 B 2 
 
4 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 with thatch, is so denominated ; though sheltering only the 
 wretched space enclosed within four mud walls. Such should 
 rather be termed Hovels. With no better claim to the title, 
 do I observe those tasty little dwellings in noblemen’s and 
 gentlemen’s pleasure grounds, often making the Porter’s 
 Lodge, adorned with handsome Gothic windows, and glazed 
 with painted glass. Alike distant from both is the genuine 
 British Cottage, which equally rejedls the wretched poverty 
 of the one, and the frippery decorations of the other. More 
 character of the outward expression of a Cottage is exempli¬ 
 fied in Fig. 4, PI. 2 ; yet do I not stile that design a Cot¬ 
 tage''; it is a neat, small habitation, and would suit for a village 
 alehouse, or for a house of call on a road side ; but does not 
 come within the circumference of my ideas respecting a Cot¬ 
 tage. Its principal defects are its uniformity, the construction 
 of its roof, and the parapet and regular coping around. 
 
 From the different ideas entertained of this description 
 of building, it is apparent there is no determinate rule or 
 guide to direct and govern their formation. Is the term 
 Cottage definable ? Dr. Johnson defines it “ a mean habi¬ 
 tation .” Dr. Watts says it is “ a mean house in the country .” 
 But with great deference to such high authorities, I have 
 led myself to conceive very differently of a Cottage ; which 
 may, I think, as well be the habitation of a substantial 
 farmer or affluent gentleman, as the dwelling of the hedger 
 and ditcher—“ a mean habitation ,” in the country or else¬ 
 where, I would call a mean habitation. With reference to 
 its decay, or with regard to its moveables, any dwelling may 
 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 S 
 
 be rendered mean ; but where comfort, plenty, and hospi¬ 
 tality reign ; or where clcanhnefs, content, and smiles ap¬ 
 pear, meanness must necessarily be excluded. 
 
 When mention is made of the kind of dwelling called a y 
 Cottage, I figure in my imagination a small house in the 
 country ; of odd, irregular form, with various, harmonious* 
 colouring, the effedt of weather, time, and accident ; the 
 whole environed with smiling verdure, having a contented, 
 chearful, inviting aspedt, and door on the latch, ready to 
 receive the gossip neighbour, or weary, exhausted travellei 
 There are many indescribable somethings that must necessa¬ 
 rily combine to give to a dwelling this distinguishing charadter. 
 
 A porch at entrance; irregular breaks in the diredtion of the 
 walls; one part higher than another; various roofing of differ¬ 
 ent materials, thatch particularly, boldly projeding; fronts 
 partly built of walls of brick, partly weather boarded, and 
 partly brick-noggin dashed; casement window lights, are all 
 conducive, and constitute its features. 1 he most happy de¬ 
 scription of some of the exterior furniture of a Cottage, that I 
 
 « It is with pleasure, and I hope it will be so received by my readers, that I here introduce a piece 
 of poetry, the produftion of a friend, which is so replete with Cottage imagery, according to my idea 
 of a Cottage, that I have often perused and pondered on it with exceeding delight. 
 
 At the door of my straw-cover’d cot 
 
 The rose and the jessamine blend j 
 Each tree that o’ershadows the spot 
 Is dear to my heart as a friend ! 
 
 Its course, from the first noble donor, 
 From father to son can we trace j 
 For ages the seat of fair honour, 
 
 Content, independence, and peace. 
 
 The trav’ller, at fast falling night, 
 
 The smoke of its chimney surveys, 
 
 And journeys with bosom more light,, 
 
 Secure of refreshment and ease ■, 
 
 For fortune permits to extend, 
 
 Though she give not superfluous store, 
 A jug, and a crust, to a friend, 
 
 A morsel to gladden the poor,. 
 
6 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 remember ever to have met with in any of our poetical 
 authors, is in a poem called the Landscape, by a Mr. 
 Knight: 
 
 “ Its roof, with reeds and mosses cover’d o’er, 
 
 And honey-suckles climbing round the door, 
 
 While mantling vines along its walls .are spread, 
 
 And clust’ring ivy decks the chimney’s head! ” 
 
 Which, in the circumstance of describing its enfolding ver¬ 
 dure only, excites in the imagination a picture of the entire 
 effebt, with every constituent feature. 
 
 A peculiar regard for this description of building, prevails 
 in all ranks of people; and this regard I have often found the 
 more fervent in those whose elevated sphere of life has ex¬ 
 cluded from the likelihood of ever tasting, but whose nice 
 sensibility could give conception to those pleasurable sensa¬ 
 tions that are the offspring of moderate enjoyment. 
 
 The greatly affluent in sumptuous equipage, as they pass 
 the chearful dwelling of the careless rustic or unambitious 
 man, who prefers agrestic pleasures to the boisterous clamour 
 of cities, involuntarily sigh as they behold the modest care- 
 excluding mansions of the lowly contented; and often from 
 the belief that solid comfort can be found only in retirement, 
 forsake their noisy abodes, to unload of their oppressing in¬ 
 quietudes in the tranquil retreat of the rural shelter. Often 
 has the aching brow of royalty resigned its crown, to be deck¬ 
 ed with the soothing chaplet of the shepherd swain. 
 
 The human mind undergoes great revolutions: those 
 scenes that gratified the infant heart, do not satisfy the thirsty 
 youthful imagination; that, looks beyond simple objects, and 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 7 
 
 can be gratified only by stately novelty, by a something then 
 conceived to be beyond the power ot artless nature to be¬ 
 stow ; but exhausted in the vain pursuit ot happiness, amid 
 the bustle of crowds and pageantry of courts, returns bene¬ 
 fited by experience, and clings to pure nature again with 
 increased delight. 
 
 The matured eye, palled with gaudy magnificence, turns 
 disgusted from the gorgeous structure, fair sloping lawn, well 
 turned canal, regular fence, and formal rows of trees; and re¬ 
 gards, with unspeakable delight, the simple cottage, the rugged 
 common, rude pond, wild hedge-rows, and irregular planta¬ 
 tions. Happy he! who early sees that true happiness is dis- 
 tindf from noise, from bustle, and from ceremony; who 
 looks for it, chiefly, in his properly discharging his domestic 
 duties, and by early planting with parental tenderness, the 
 seeds of content in his rising offspring, reaps the glad har¬ 
 vest in autumnal age. 
 
 Too great possession becomes irksome to the possessor, 
 little concern makes a light heart ; the care-worn visage of 
 the hoarding miser, and the thoughtless gaiety of the de¬ 
 pendant on his daily labour, sufficiently evince the truth of 
 this common adage. More than immediate calls and acconr- 
 modation for a friend and social visitant require, only in¬ 
 troduce trouble and anxiety, without enlarging the field of 
 real enjoyment. 
 
 In times of the feudal system, when our Barons w r ere at¬ 
 tended by their armed followers, and surrounded with all the 
 state and pageantry of petty princes; their magnificent and 
 
8 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 extensive castles were no more than suited to their absolute 
 
 necessities. But since the more positive subjection of aristo¬ 
 
 cracy to monarchy, and the consequent reduction of their esta¬ 
 blishment, the greater part of the ancient fortified castles have 
 fallen into ruin from total negleCt. Some, indeed, whose 
 mediocrity of extent admitted of it, have been preserved and 
 fitted to more modern uses, and more civilized purposes, 
 agreeably to the circumstances of the present times. 
 
 The more modern, lofty mansions of the great, excite 
 emotions of surprise and admiration at their stately appear¬ 
 ance and grandeur ; but which soon yield place to sensations 
 the opposite of true happiness. When considering the master 
 as mere man, there is found no consistency between the pos¬ 
 sessor and the thing possessed : the immensity of his demands, 
 the attentions he must necessarily exaCt of others, and a con¬ 
 tinual reliance upon them for the support of his dignity, more 
 immediately renders him the dependant, rather than the lord 
 of his servants. 
 
 With fixed, depressed brow, is beheld the stately edifice 
 on the eminence, confounding admiration with regarding it 
 as the seat of cares and inquietude ; but glancing the view 
 below, we smile with serene delight on the Cottage in the 
 valley, whose narrow confines seem adequate to all real 
 wants, and speaks the residence of 
 
 u Those calm desires that ask but little room.’ 
 
 Nevertheless I cannot but lament, when I notice the 
 devastations made by the corroding breath of time, upon 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 those noble structures, the boast of Architecture, and in¬ 
 stance of the riches of our isle: and to observe the attrac¬ 
 tions of the metropolis, engage so long the residence, and 
 exhaust the resources of our affluent Nobility, whose exertions 
 and whose wealth could be so nobly called into action for the 
 good of the Country at large, in promoting its manufactures 
 and encouraging a laborious Peasantry. 
 
 Though noble specimens of Architecture, however ap¬ 
 plied, command admiration, yet I cannot admire the ponder¬ 
 ous magnificence that is so often displayed in the dwellings of 
 individuals, however high their elevation and dignity. In 
 temples of religious worship, and in public buildings of the 
 state, the magnificent decorations of Architecture should ap¬ 
 pear, particularly in the former; no application of them can be 
 more worthy; it would at the same time be shewing the grati¬ 
 tude of human beings, to the fountain of their lives, and giver 
 of all their enjoyments. ’Tis shameful to observe the house 
 of God obscurely lurking in by-lanes and alleys. A Palace is 
 a public building, and it is unworthy the British Monarchy, 
 that she can produce no better examples than St. James’s. 
 
 There is no discrimination" in the present stile of Archi¬ 
 tecture as practised in England: every kind of Structure meets 
 with similar treatment. Churches in town are scarcely dis- 
 
 “ Can it be observed, but with extreme regret, the poverty of conception that is instanced in the 
 recent improvements made at entrance into St. James’s and Hyde Parks; where opportunity offered, of 
 doing something worthy of contiguous consequence and beauty ? What an effect to that enlivening end 
 of Piccadilly would have had an appropriate termination; where a junction of three archways, or other 
 openings, between pillars, one into each Park, similar, and opposite to each other, and another through 
 the Turnpike, would have formed a scene suiting that populous entrance into the Metropolis. [An ex- 
 
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 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 tinguishable from warehouses; or from stables, by their still 
 greater resemblance, on account of their belfries. Country 
 houses on the common, are reared like town houses in the 
 streets of London. The peculiars of every nation form a 
 mongrel species in England; the rude ornaments of Indostan 
 supersede those of Greece; and the returned Nabob, heated 
 in his pursuit of wealth, imagines he imports the chaleur of the 
 East with its riches; and we behold the stretched awning to 
 form the cool shade, in the moist clime of Britain; the 
 new fashioned windows of Italy, opening to the floor, with 
 lengthened balcony, originally intended to survey the lawns, 
 the vistas, and the groves of Claude , in their summer attire, or 
 the canals of Venice; are now to be seen in every confined 
 street of London, that a clear survey may be enjoyed of mud¬ 
 dy streets, and to inhale the full fragrance of the effluvia, or 
 dust of the scavengers, from below. 
 
 A nation deriving the chief of its affluence from com¬ 
 merce and bold enterprize, is certainly not likely to be ac¬ 
 tuated by a general and pure taste in the elegance of art. 
 The good sense and nice discernment that diredts individuals 
 to a just appropriation of objedls, will not affedt the many who 
 are continually, and, I may say, momentarily, rising to inde- 
 pendance by the possession of immense wealth from fortunate 
 
 cellent idea to this effeft was given by Mr. Jeffry Wyatt, and shewn to public inspedion in the exhi¬ 
 bition of the Royal Academy of 1796-] But whatever deficiency maybe thought to be exemplified in 
 the design for entrance into St. James’s Parle, or the still greater shewn in the Toll-houses and 
 Gates that cross the road, they are neither of them made to hide their diminutive heads by the recent 
 ere&ion for entrance into Hyde Park opposite to great Cumberland Street 5 that is truly a Triumphal 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ii 
 
 adventure; or who have been constantly engaged in the su- 
 permtendance of their various manufactures; these in then 
 manumission from servile toil, often credit their country as 
 little, in any other way in the disposal of their wealth, as in 
 the construction of their new fancied dwellings: to this, and 
 a bad taste in others of lesser means, is chiefly owing the 
 motley and inapplicable piles, we daily witness rearing their 
 heterogenial heads above the lowly dwellings around them. 
 
 To gentlemen, and persons of cultivated taste, I address • 
 this essay, and recommend to take the Cottage under protec¬ 
 tion; which, unless speedily done, will be found to exist no 
 where but on the canvas of the painter, and we shall have to 
 lament with the poet that, 
 
 “ Along the lawn where scatter’d hamlets rose, 
 
 Unwieldy wealth and cumb’rous pomp repose j” 
 
 As is the Cottage, so is the old country Church, a peculiar, 
 beautiful, and picturesque feature, in the rural scenes of Eng¬ 
 land; but this, as well as the former, is fast falling away, and 
 succeeded by others possessing not a single quality gratify¬ 
 ing to the mind or sight; for as the gay frivolity and flat in¬ 
 sipidity of their interiors, do not inspire veneration, so neither 
 do their exteriors call forth regard; or will they ever in the 
 entire, or in the ruin, attraCt the eye, or engage the voluntary 
 pencil of the discerning artist. 
 
 Who that beholds the new raised structures called 
 churches, in many of our country towns, unless told that they 
 were churches, but would imagine they were assembly-rooms, 
 or theatres, rather than places of devotion ? so little is there of 
 
sc 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the sober gravity in the construction, which is wont to inspire 
 the beholder with veneration for the pile. 
 
 The durability and picturesque beauty of our old country 
 churches, must, and do, strike every person of taste in rustic 
 scenery. Could not the best of them be easily singled out, 
 and others raised on the same model, if the builder have not 
 invention to construct a design equally pleasing ? Certainly 
 this could be done, and often with less expence than is ill be¬ 
 stowed in rearing a square lumbering pile of yellow brick, a 
 disgrace to the Architect, to the Parishioners, and to the 
 Green it stands on. 
 
 There are persons who object to the rising of spires on 
 the towers of churches, inferring, from their form, and the 
 sometimes rigid persecutions of the church, sensations that do 
 violence to their feelings. A pyramid is universally esteem¬ 
 ed a figure of great beauty, any inference therefore by its ter¬ 
 mination in a point, as mindful of empaling, must be acknow¬ 
 ledged to be far conceived. 
 
 As I consider a well proportioned spire a beauty, so do I 
 hold it of utility considerable, as a beacon or landmark, that 
 tells the musing wanderer whence she has stray’d, and that 
 conduits the weary traveller to his wished place of rest. Nor 
 can I quit this subject without adverting to their improve¬ 
 ment of landscape in general, as they break the lines of hills 
 or groves, aiding and adorning the confined, as well as the 
 extensive, scenes of nature. 
 
Before I enter on the Work and observe what I have 
 done, I shall previously intimate what I have not done. 
 And in the first place, I have not given any estimate of' the 
 expence of executing any of the following designs; refledt- 
 ing that that must vary considerably according to price of la-' 
 bour, contiguity of materials, and manner each individual may 
 chuse to adopt in the execution. A dwelling of the same form 
 and dimensions with another that may have expended 200 /. 
 only, may expend twice, or thrice as much, from superior ex¬ 
 ecution and finishing. Nor have I given any description of out¬ 
 houses; as stables, coach, cart-house, barn, brew-house, dairy, 
 or other indispensible requisite, aware that such conveniences 
 entirely depend upon the reality of existing wants and provi¬ 
 sion for application. When the exterior irregularity of a 
 building is considered rather a beauty than a deformity, op¬ 
 portunity is afforded for numerous out-house conveniences, 
 by lean-to’s to the main dwelling, and at very inconsiderable 
 expence. Neither have I availed myself of various additions 
 to beauty, that might, with great advantage to my designs, 
 have served to decorate and set them off; such as fruit-trees-, 
 creeping ivy, honey suckles, jessamine, or indeed of flowers 
 of any kind, attached to the dwelling; but which would 
 certainly be employed in reality, to the great decoration of the 
 fabrick. These great, though apparently trilling embellish¬ 
 ments, can properly be introduced in actual views only, from 
 the existence of real circumstances; imagination in prior de¬ 
 sign, in such instances, seldom equalling the effedi produced 
 by accident. 
 
l 4 
 
 ESSAY. ON 
 
 Concerning what 1 have done, I am not without appre¬ 
 hension, that it will be urged, that a sameness prevails in the 
 designs, and tautology through the writings, and am much 
 disposed to admit both; but it must be remembered that it is 
 a field so circumscribed, as not to admit of much variety from 
 one hand; and this little work is not given to the world as a 
 perfebf body, but, as its title imports, an essay only. It was 
 intended to have been limited to twelve designs, but two hints 
 more, from nature, suggesting themselves, were thought 
 worthy of adoption; and from danger of running into repe¬ 
 tition it was prosecuted no further. 
 
 With the hope of seeing some of these designs, the chil¬ 
 dren of my fancy, brought to maturity, by being carried into 
 abtual execution; I am particularly induced to offer a few 
 serious remarks on building in general. 
 
 & Many are the persons whom experience has taught that 
 after building a house, the design when executed has not ac¬ 
 corded to expectation, or realized the idea conceived of it from 
 having beheld it on paper. Three causes may be assigned for 
 this frequent disappointment. First, from the unintentional 
 deception of the Architedt, who, to give a good eftebt to his 
 drawing, throws bolder shadows from the projecting parts of 
 the intended building, than their abtual projebtures would 
 cast from the sun’s light"; and from his giving to the reced- 
 
COTTAGE ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 'J 
 
 ing parts, too great a disparity of tint, in order, as painters 
 express themselves, to keep such parts back: thus produc¬ 
 ing an effedt which the reality will not assume from the light 
 of nature, the parts being of the same coloured materials. Such 
 practice serves greatly to deceive, when estimating the effedt 
 of any intended eredtion from inspedtion of the drawings. 
 
 A second reason proceeds from the design of each front 
 of the building being given separately in geometrical, and not 
 conjointly, as in perspedtive delineation. Considered apart, 
 each front may be very pleasing, but extremely incongruous 
 when brought into one focus; with other misconceptions in 
 the appearance of elevated parts, allowance in height not be¬ 
 ing made for the depth of their recedure. And a third cause 
 arises from the circumstance of the drawings being only 
 miniatures of the thing intended. Reflection is not made that, 
 when the features are expanded to the purposed dimensions, 
 their dissevered parts assume a more homely appearance, and 
 have a very different effedt from their resemblance in little b . 
 The truth of which observation, even the justly-vain fair one 
 will readily admit, who has ever examined her captivating 
 features in a concave mirror, or magnifying dressing-glass. 
 
 1 o J O SO 
 
 b This observation equally holds goocl with regard to the painting of human portraits in miniature. 
 The better they are done, and the closer a copy of nature, the more do they approach what is termed a 
 flattering likenefs. It is the great diminution of the object that is the cause ; for let the living original 
 be viewed through a concave glass that would apparently reduce it to the size of the painting, audit would 
 be found more delicate and more handsome, than art can possibly reach. The same is the consequence 
 in the appearance of every objet reduced by glasses to miniature: A line piece of Architecture so re¬ 
 duced, is neat and beautiful beyond description ; the perfect appearance of its angles and shadows, be¬ 
 yond the reach of the nicest art to imitate; but which is so far from ever being attempted that, in 
 general, the very reverse takes place in delineation, and the smaller the work the more imperfectly is 
 it expressed. 
 
To these three circumstances, due attention should ever 
 be paid previous to any intended eredlion. And I would 
 most particularly advise two, or more, true perspective views 
 of any insular structure to be taken from stations where the 
 object is desired most advantageously to be seen, and the 
 design made to accord to the wish, before it is attempted to 
 be executed. Then would be avoided all after dissatisfaction 
 and unpleasant reflections, which but too frequently occur, 
 when a building is completed, without using such precaution. 
 
 I will here take occasion to remark, on the many instances 
 of incongruity that are daily committed by those who erect 
 what they are pleased to call Cottages, as to the formation 
 of the windows. The most general form of Cottage windows 
 are three: and these are simply, either a retangular opening, 
 as Example 1, Plate 1; or compounded of two, three, or 
 more such openings, as Examples 2 and 3; or the opening 
 being lofty, is divided into two heights, as Example 4, where 
 the top lights are less in height than the lower; or as Ex¬ 
 ample 5, where both top and bottom divisions are equal. 
 
 These are all the variety I remember to have observed 
 in the simple British Cottage, of which numerous instances 
 may be seen by all who have inquiring eyes, and take the na¬ 
 tural not the affe£ted“ Cottage for their guide. It is however 
 
 * I use the term affeEltd in opposition to the word natural ; in apology for both, I must observe, 
 I cannot find any mode of expression so concise, or would so well figure the meaning I wish to convey. 
 The latter expression is intended to imply a provision against real wants; while the other is only a 
 studied luxury for the supply of no real want at all. The one makes use of those materials which the 
 spot whereon it is to be situated produces, and often of the cheapest kind, rude and unadorned; while, 
 for the constru&ion of the latter, the returned East Indiaman may be deemed absolutely necessary, as 
 having brought a principal part of the required materials. 
 
COTTAGE ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 >7 
 
 very common to find, of the latter description, the affected 
 Cottage, together with the strictest attention to uniformity 
 in the outward construction of the building, that the win¬ 
 dows will be fashioned after the mode of castle or convent 
 windows, such as Examples 6, 7, or 8, which are as un¬ 
 like those appropriate to Cottage as are Venetian; both the 
 fashion and construction of such being far from simple, and 
 beyond the capacity or intention of the rustic architect to ex¬ 
 ecute. Others however will go still farther, and construct 
 windows with compound arches, as Example 9; or enriched 
 with the circular ramifications of gothic tracery, as Examples 
 10, 11, and 12; all of which I have seen executed, and have 
 heard called Cottage windows ; than which no forms could 
 well be more foreign. 
 
 Various are the designs which may be given for the tra¬ 
 cery, or small bars, of Cottage windows. The most general 
 figures are, oblong squares, lozenges, mixed hexagons, or 
 hexagons and lozenges mixed. Examples of each of the 
 latter I have given in Plate 2, Figures 1 and 2; which designs 
 being all composed of right lines, setting aside the beauty of 
 their forms, are the most proper for such glazings. 
 
 The aptitude of windows of such construction to the 
 Cottage fabrick is of universal acquiescence; nevertheless 
 well-founded objections are urged against Cottage windows 
 in general, as rendering rooms very cold in winter by admis¬ 
 sion of too much air; and that they are much subject to de¬ 
 struction from high winds, unless well stiffened by small iron 
 bars. All which is very true; but might, I think, easily be 
 
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ESSAY ON 
 
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 obviated, were the whole frame work made of the materials 
 of the patent fan-light sashes, which could readily be worked 
 of any pattern desired. The specimen, Fig. 3, Plate 2, is of the 
 full requisite dimensions; and having a rabbet on each side 
 the center rise, the glass could be neatly fitted in, and fixed 
 with putty, and thereby be made perfectly air tight; while the 
 bars themselves need not be broader, but rather narrower 
 than the usual breadth of leaden divisions; at the same 
 time, the uniform neatness of the whole, by excluding the 
 necessity of iron bars, and having a small projecting bead 
 on the inner face, as shewn in the Profile at A, would add con¬ 
 siderably to the acknowledged beauty of casement windows. 
 
 The expence in the first instance would certainly be 
 augmented; but the durability of the materials would pre¬ 
 clude all after costs, which unavoidably occur in the usual 
 mode of glazing with leaden divisions, independant of other 
 weighty objections. It is not proposed nor expected, that 
 this mode of glazing should become general, or extend to 
 the peasant’s hut; but it could be well applied to the gentle¬ 
 man’s retreat, or used by the farmer mindful of domestic 
 comfort. 
 
 Throughout the entire of these designs, I have con¬ 
 stantly aimed at throwing the light into the apartments, by 
 openings in the middle of the side, or end of the room; 
 and this from one large window, in preference to two with 
 a pier between them, which, no matter how small, always 
 makes an apartment heavy, and gives a dull rebuff at en¬ 
 trance, extremely unpleasant. This effedt is strongly ex- 
 
COTTAGE ARCHITECTURE. , g 
 
 perienced in the smaller class of town dwellings, particularly, 
 when the pier is from six to eight feet wide. 
 
 Though I cannot agree with the author of a late pub¬ 
 lication, who", speaking of rural structures in general, ob¬ 
 serves that, “ so much is irregularity of parts a constituent 
 of beauty, that regularity may almost be said to be defor¬ 
 mity;” yet do I most decidedly admit, that a well chosen 
 irregularity is most pleasing; but it does not of consequence 
 follow, that all irregularity must necessarily be picturesque. 
 To combine irregularity into picturesque, is the excellence 
 of Cottage construction, and what has been most attentively 
 considered and aimed at in the greater part of the following- 
 designs, which I shall now briefly explain. 
 
 Designs 1,2, 3, and 4, in Plates 3 and 4, are for pea¬ 
 sants huts; which, as they seldom or never build themselves, 
 are submitted to the notice of those gentlemen and farmers, 
 who construct such dwellings for their labourers; with a wish 
 that they would adopt such constructions, in preference to 
 more formal figures: the forms are simple, convenient, and 
 picturesque; requiring little more attention in building, than 
 is requisite in raising the most common habitations, with the 
 same conveniences: and it would be well worth bestowing 
 a trifle more of expence and of trouble too, in their erection, 
 were it for the gratification of the eye alone. 
 
 Plan No. 1, Plate 8, is the ichnography of the ground 
 plot, answering to the four above mentioned designs. The 
 body of the dwelling is 12 feet wide, by 18 long; contain- 
 
 Smith on Cottages, 
 
20 
 
 ESSAY ON 
 
 ing, besides a convenient room on the ground floor, a small 
 stair case at the far end, communicating to an upper room 
 for a bed-room; great part of the height of which, is had 
 out of the pitch of the roof; a small lean-to, which may, 
 or may not, be adopted at pleasure, is attached to it, seven 
 feet wide, as is shewn both in plan and elevation; which, 
 divided off at A B, forms a useful small room for grown 
 children, or a place for a sick bed: in the same continuation 
 is convenience for a scullery, piggery, or aught else that may 
 be thought most advisable. 
 
 Plate 5, shews the perspective appearances of these four 
 designs for peasants huts, expressing better their construc¬ 
 tion, than can be done in geometrical drawings; and these 
 may serve to convey the idea, how a perspective view of a 
 building is connected witb its plan and geometrical eleva¬ 
 tions, and aid the conception of the following designs, of 
 which perspective views are not given; as that would have 
 been attended with many supernumerary plates, great in¬ 
 crease of expence, and a consequent additional charge to the 
 purchasers of the work. I have given them all in the same 
 point of view, that a just comparison may be made among 
 them. 
 
 Design 5, Plate 6,1 originally planned without a bow, at 
 the request of a lady of distinction, to be situated in a wood, 
 for the residence of her shepherd and wood cutter; but much 
 liking the idea, the bow was added with intention of convert- 
 ing it to a cottage of pleasure. Such an one would be very 
 commodious for a labouring man, or village tradesman with 
 
COTTAGE ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 21 
 
 a family; as to the rear of it, convenient sheds might be made 
 by lean-to’s, suitable to various demands. Plan No. 2, Plate 
 8, is the ground plot, expressing the dimensions of the apart¬ 
 ments, and disposition of the internal conveniences. 
 
 Design 6, Plate 7, is a very commodious habitation, suit¬ 
 able as well to the small farmer, as the village tradesman; or, 
 according to the manner it may be fitted up, it may answer 
 the retired gentleman of small fortune. Plans No. 3 and 4, 
 
 Plate 8, explain its conveniences; where, on the upper story, 
 are two excellent bed-rooms, the places of the beds shewn 
 by dotted lines at X, Y, and Z: if deemed necessary, by 
 continuing the kitchen walls up another story, a third com¬ 
 modious bed-room might be obtained. 
 
 Design 7, Plate 9, is a very pleasing form, simple, and 
 constructed agreeably to the principles of the picturesque ; 
 shaping an habitation perfectly appropriate to the small 
 farmer. The perspective of this design, ’tis easy to conceive, 
 would be extremely beautiful taken in any direction; but par¬ 
 ticularly so, viewed from the end where is the porch, looking 
 at the building in an angular direction. Plans No. 1 and 2, 
 
 Plate 11, shew the arrangement of the conveniences in the 
 ground and bed-room floors of this design. Two excellent 
 bed-rooms are in the higher division of the building; and one 
 large one is obtained great part out of the roof ol the lower: 
 but if these are thought too few, another large room might be 
 had, from continuing the walls of the kitchen one story higher. 
 
 DesignS, Plate 10, is a cottage of very different construc¬ 
 tion from the preceding: this habitation has more the air of 
 
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22 
 
 ESSAY ON 
 
 the residence of the retired gentleman, than the dwelling of 
 the farmer; upon the former of which ideas it was designed. 
 The fashion of the windows and the square bow, are com¬ 
 mon to the cottages of England, and in my opinion are ex¬ 
 tremely beautiful; the porch, upon the small scale of the 
 drawing, may, by many, be thought too fine, and inapplicable 
 to a simple cottage; but I cln assure those who conclude so, 
 they are mistaken, upon the principle that is advanced, as a 
 third reason for misconception in designs, in page 15. I 
 have executed that very porch and door way, in a cottage 
 near London, and can give in confirmation for my own, the 
 opinion of many, that it has both a simple and a rustic appear¬ 
 ance; the pillars are merely oak stumps of the required di¬ 
 mensions, with the bark on; or, what is better, as the sap and 
 bark will soon decay, they may be made of the heart of oak 
 roughly carved in imitation of the bark of a tree, and 
 painted so as to resemble it. So was done the porch I ex¬ 
 ecuted, and its effeft was such as I before advanced. The 
 ground plan has two convenient apartments and a kitchen, 
 and two bed-rooms in the upper story, as may be seen on in¬ 
 spection of the Plans No. 3 and 4, Plate 11. 
 
 Design 9, Plate 12, has been held, by all who have 
 given me their opinions of it, as more denoting the residence 
 of the gentleman than of the farmer. A similar bow to the 
 one in the middle of this design, I have recently executed, and 
 can attest from experience, and the concurrence of others, 
 that it is very beautiful in the exterior, and light and chear- 
 ful, in the interior, perfe&ly conformable to its situation. 
 
 
Plans No. 1 and 2, Plate 14, are the ichnography of its 
 ground and bed-room floors, which, as they throughly ex¬ 
 press their various conveniences, ’tis needless to repeat here. 
 
 Design 10, Plate 13, is manifest to every eye, the de¬ 
 cided residence of the substantial farmer; and with some¬ 
 thing of more marked attention in the outward decorations, 
 of the retired gentleman with a family; being convertible at 
 pleasure, to any enlargement of its dimensions, without in- 
 jury to the design. The picturesque effeCl, of this and the 
 preceding idea, in perspective, would be such as could not 
 fail to interest, and call the attention of every beholder. 
 The disposition of its ichnography, Plans 3 and 4, Plate 
 14, is nearly the same as the preceding; which disposition 
 I particularly recommend to the attention of my readers; 
 being, as I conceive, extremely commodious and convenient, 
 and, beyond any yet given, worthy of observation. 
 
 Design 11, Plate 15, is of a construction differing from all 
 hitherto given in this work. It is not entirely to my own 
 mind, on account of its uniformity, but that is not matter of 
 objection with all. If its regularity should be disapproved 
 of, one bow may be rejected, and plain windows in 
 the flat of the wall adopted in its place, at the will of 
 the proprietor. Plans 1 and 2, Plate 1 7, shew the distri¬ 
 bution of the apartments in both stories. ’Tis a roomy 
 dwelling, and capable of accommodating a large family. 
 
 N. B. In the three following designs, I must acknow¬ 
 ledge I have strayed a little apart from my purposed objeCf, 
 which had in view, more to produce designs for the most 
 
ESSAY ON 
 
 2 + 
 
 common and middling classes of people, than to contrive 
 dwellings for the opulent; but I was willing to suggest, that 
 even structures of more extensive kind, might be made to ac¬ 
 cord to rural appearance, and to unite rusticity with elegance. 
 
 Design 12, Plate 16, is yet an entirely new formation 
 from any of the foregoing, calculated both in appearance and 
 conveniences for the accommodation of a genteel family. 
 The Plans 3 and 4, Plate 17, express its conveniences, and 
 distribution of the apartments in both stories, and manifest 
 its ability to accommodate even a large family. 
 
 Design 13, Plate 18, for any thing I have ever beheld of 
 the kind, is perfectly novel, and I may say, singular, in its 
 construction ; its unavoidably low elevation, precludes capa¬ 
 bility of entertaining a large society: it would suit well a 
 batchelor or single lady; or married pair with few or no 
 offspring. I had once hopes of being able to speak of 
 this idea, from experience of its effeCt in execution; having 
 been originally designed, with intention of immediate erec¬ 
 tion, for residence of a widow lady and son, in a neighbour¬ 
 hood of great respectability and fashion in the Queen’s 
 County, Ireland; but from necessity of the concurrence of 
 several persons, it was set aside, and an old dwelling repaired 
 in place ol building this, to which the other was designed for 
 offices. Plans No. 1 and 2, Plate 19, explain the regulation 
 of the apartments, and shew how the chambers, three in 
 number, are obtained out of the roof. But that a clear un¬ 
 derstanding might be formed on that head, I have given two 
 transverse seCIions through the building, one in the direction 
 
COTTAGE ARCHITECTURE. 25 
 
 of the line A B, in the plans, cutting through the center bed¬ 
 room, hall, and stair case; the other, in the dire&ion of the 
 line C D, through the dining-room, study, and one of the 
 end bed-rooms. The voids, marked by white A and B, in 
 the waste of the roof, may be made into convenient closets, 
 or be fitted with drawers for blankets, bed-linen and other 
 bulky articles. The kitchen offices are meant to be at a 
 small distance from the dwelling, to which is communi¬ 
 cation by means of a covered passage at X, in the Plan. 
 
 This strudlure demands a silent, serene, yet chearful 
 situation: the site of it should be sequestered, and rather 
 in a valley, than on an eminence, with a small sloping 
 lawn in front; and a shrubbery and flower border around. 
 A small lawn well kept, immediately before such a man¬ 
 sion as this, I consider infinitely preferable to the same space 
 broken into small flowering clumps of divers forms, with 
 gravelled walks between, which only tease the eye and de¬ 
 stroy the serenity of the scene. 
 
 Design 14, Plate 20, is the lafl of the colledlion. In 
 this idea, I have strove to unite elegance of form, to cottage 
 constru&ion and simplicity; intending it, as from the plans, 
 Plate 21, may be seen, for the residence of a large and op- 
 pulent family. 
 
 A plan of this construdlion was before given on a smal¬ 
 ler scale, in Design 12, Plate 16, which, from experience, 
 I have found very eligible. Its excellence I hold to consist 
 chiefly, in the ready communication between every part of 
 the habitation, from the circumstance of the long passage A, 
 
 G 
 
oil the ground floor, Plate 21, which opens immediately into 
 every individual room; at the same time, a complete thorough¬ 
 fare is had, from one room to another, through the different 
 apartments. Plans 1, 2, and 3, Plate 21, shew the con¬ 
 veniences of the under story; ground and principal floor; 
 and bed-room story; and as each expresses its several de¬ 
 stinations, further’ observation here is unnecessary. 
 
 In this last design, as in all the preceeding, many are the 
 indispensible conveniences requisite in every family esta¬ 
 blishment, that have not been touched upon, for reasons 
 before mentioned. This is now again observed, only from 
 desire to prevent censure for seeming negledt, when 
 only unnecesseffary anticipation has been avoided. For 
 though the necessity of many conveniences may be fore¬ 
 known, they cannot be generally applied in a series of de¬ 
 signs made without relation or reference to place; and 
 which conveniences must have their situation entirely de¬ 
 pendent on local circumstances, not preconceivable by the 
 most experienced and penetrating projedtor. The nature 
 of these strudlures should be taken into consideration ; it 
 should be remembered that an agreeable irregularity is one 
 of their principal beauties; and there will always be opportu¬ 
 nity of making matters accord to desire by additions to 
 the main dwelling, without injury to the design. It is other¬ 
 wise, in regular compositions of architecture: where the 
 architect, after great study and torture ot the imagination, to 
 make the outward regularity of his structure, agree and unite 
 with the interior conveniency, is at last, obliged to relin- 
 
COTTAGE ARCHITECTURE. 27 
 
 quish many desirable advantages, and instances of beauty, 
 the great objeCt of his fancy, from the impossibility he finds, 
 of making both concur in forming one uniform whole, agree¬ 
 ably to his wish. 
 
 And now it is almost needless to remark, that the fore¬ 
 going designs are by no means arbitrary; but that they may 
 be abridged, or added to, and variously modified, at the will 
 and pleasure of the proprietor. In place of this porch or 
 door-way, another may be substituted; in lieu of an oCta- 
 gonal bow, a circular, or a square one may be adopted; 
 thus changing and varying, ’till from knowledge of conveni¬ 
 ences wanted, and ideas here furnished, a handsome dwelling 
 may be constructed conformable to desire, though not at all 
 resembling any one design here given. One point, however, 
 is principally to be regarded by those, who are desirous to 
 build picturesque rural dwellings; which is, never to aim at 
 regularity, but to let the outward figure conform only to the 
 internal conveniency; and rather to overcharge projecting 
 parts than in any wise to curtail them; for on a judicious 
 contrast of light and shade, does the picturesque in a great 
 measure depend. 
 
 What I have performed scarcely to my own mind, I 
 can but faintly hope of having executed to the satisfaction 
 of others. However, this little effort may be instrumental in 
 prompting superior talents, and so further my endeavours, 
 and my wish, as to the more general adoption of the objeCt 
 recommended. 
 
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