Boxalls and Vine Cottage were originally a single three bay building with a central open hall. The heavily sooted roof structure supports this. There are some interesting features, notably a bespoke oak hook installed in the stair case void which the heritage consultants believe was used to hang/dry meat. Boxalls was later extended to create a cross-wing (now Vine Cottage), and extended again to the rear in the late 19th / early 20th century and split into two cottages to form Boxalls and Vine Cottage as they are today.
Historic maps also indicate that the original plot of Boxalls comprised the existing plots of Vine Cottage (to the south) and Wheelwrights (to the north). The current owners wish that was still the case and they weren’t ‘boxed’ in by the two adjacent properties as they are today. Perhaps it’s how Boxalls got its name or more likely it was named after a local family (it was actually called Tudor Cottage until around 1960).
Below is the
1977 Report by the Surrey Domestic Buildings Research Group
Note: They date the house 1600 but Manorwood, the heritage consultant we used for planning, dated it much earlier circa. 1525.
