138 AND 140, RATTEN LANE

These are two cruck-framed cottages located on Ratten Lane, likely dating from the 17th century. Originally the number of cottages is unknown, but they are now two separate dwellings. Number 140 has been extensively but sympathetically modernised, and is included in the listing because it retains significant original timber features. Number 138 has a brick exterior with a thatched roof now covered by red corrugated sheet, and includes boarded eaves. The cottages have a baffle-entry plan of three-and-a-half bays. Number 138 is a single storey and has a central doorway, with a two-light window on each side and a single-light window at the left end. It currently has no external chimney, but the interior contains a central stack. Inside Number 138 are three full cruck-trusses, along with ridge and purlins of substantial size, overlapped on the cruck blades. A windbrace is visible to each purlin in two of the middle bays. The collar has a kingpost approximately one metre in front of the chimney breast in the housepart, and a cross wall at the lower end of the housepart has been infilled with mud. The third bay appears to have been raised from a hip or lengthened. In Number 140, the cruck-frame and purlins continue, with one full cruck truss remaining, and one cruck truss at the left end severed above the tie, suggesting that the original roof was hipped to the thatched roof.