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Property Name
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Skerrett's Cottage
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Full Book Content
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Stockdale House and Skerrett’s Cottage on Printer’s Alley are two typical early 18th century residences. They were originally laid out on a cruciform plan, with porch, hall, parlour and rear kitchen or bedroom but, in the case of Skerrett’s Cottage, later additions somewhat obscure this shape. Skerrett’s is the older of the two. It was standing in 1706 as the home of James Wright and was probably built in the 1690s. Wright died in 1708 and left it to his son Benjamin, to whom it was formally granted in 1713. William and Eleanor Higgs inherited the property and by the 1780s had built a larger house to the east. That house, Higgs House or 11 Queen Street, is now a ruin. Skerrett’s Cottage stayed in the Higgs family until the 1930s, when it was purchased by Robert and Minnie Gray Clifford and then in 1959 by Arthur and Ora Ming. It is still owned by Ming descendants. The house takes its name from English school teacher John W Skerrett who, according to local tradition, taught school in the cellar at the beginning of the 20th century. Although a room added to the northeast alters the original cruciform layout, the house has several noteworthy early architectural features, particularly the decorative Flemish gable on the west end and the large external chimney on the north.