Deerkeepers Cottage

Deerkeeper's Cottage is a late 17th century or early 18th century building located in Meldon Park. It is constructed of rubble with dressings and has a slate roof. The cottage is 2 and a half storeys tall and consists of one bay. The central doorway features a flat-pointed head in a square frame, although it is now blocked with a later inserted window. On either side of the door are flanking 2-light mullioned windows with hoodmoulds, although the left window has been largely altered by the insertion of a door. The first floor has a 3-light mullioned window and a narrow window above, both with hoodmoulds. The gable is coped and flat-topped, featuring a central diagonally-set brick stack.

To the right of the main structure is a contemporary lean-to with a boarded door and reverse-stepped coping. The left side of the cottage has a blocked door and two heavy moulded corbels that once supported a roof for a removed outshut. Above this is a moulded string that is interrupted by a projecting stone spout below the sill of the 3-light mullioned window, which has blocked side lights. The right side features a 4-pane casement in a low outshut, below a blocked 3-light mullioned window.

The rear elevation includes blocked doors, one of which has a flat-pointed head in a square frame located mid-height in the wall, breaking the moulded string. The gable at the rear is also coped and flat-topped, with a moulded stone bracket supporting the outer angle of the diagonally-set brick stack.

Inside, the first floor's southeast corner reveals a fireplace on a corbel that is visible from the ground floor, featuring a moulded surround with a flat-pointed arch in a square frame. There is a 19th-century fireplace in the opposite corner on the ground floor. An old stone bowl can be found in the internal sill of the first-floor west window. The roof structure includes a principal-rafter truss with a collar and two levels of heavy purlins.

This cottage is noted as a significant example of 17th-century architecture.