NHER 66639 (Building record) - 29 Dovecote Road, Upwell

29 Dovecote Road is a brick cottage of possible 18th-century date (J. Percival (HES), pers. comm.). It is shown on the Ordnance Survey First Edition 25-inch map (S1) as the northernmost of a row of three cottages. The other two apparently collapsed in the 1970s.

Google Street View images (S2) show it to be of only one and a half storeys with a fairly steeply pitched pantile roof and a perpendicular rear extension of similar height. The main street range has two windows with segmental brick arches (to either side of the door) but only a very small three-light casement above (the opening for which is bricked up). A rear-facing dormer is possibly a modern addition and the fenestration of the rear range is unclear from the available images. There are stacks at both ends of the street range, the southern of which is entirely external and would have originally been part of the adjoining dwelling.
A substantial portion of the front wall of the ruined cottages still survived at this time. The doors, windows and overall construction appear to have been very similar to those of 29 Dovecote Road suggesting they were almost certain built (or at least refaced) at the same time. However, unlike No 29 these cottages only had one ground floor window, although it is notable that the northern bay of No 29 is slightly recessed compared to the rest of the frontage, suggesting it may represent a later extension (in which case the rear range would also be a later addition).

Although apparently occupied until relatively recently it is clear from the Google images that No 29 was in a poor state of repair by 2019 and the condition of the building subsequently declined to the point where Building Control intervened due to its dilapidated and potentially dangerous condition. Subsequent remedial work saw the removal of the unstable elements, leaving only the four walls and the righthand stack. The frontage was rebuilt using reclaimed material to the original design (including the collapsed elements of the front walls of the ruined cottages).

See Heritage Statement (S3) and architectural plans (S4) for further details, including photographs showing No 29 before and after becoming unsafe, and diagrams and photographs illustrating its form after being partially rebuilt.
P. Watkins (HES), 23 December 2022.