The Cottage

This is a farmhouse, later adapted as a gentleman’s residence and now divided into three houses. It dates from 1646, with later alterations and subdivision, including raising of the roof in the mid-19th century. The exterior is constructed of coursed squared gritstone rubble, with rendered brick and stone additions, and has stone slate roofs, with a hipped roof on the right-hand side.

The east facade presents a two-storey, two-bay original house, alongside a taller two-storey bay over a cellar on the right. Quoins are visible. The original central doorway features chamfered quoined jambs and a carved flat-arched lintel inscribed 'J/RE 1646'. A six-light recessed chamfered mullioned window is located on the left, alongside a blocked doorway. A tripartite sash window is to the right, and a similar window is situated on the first floor. A square, rendered brick porch with a round-arched window and a pedimented blocking course provides access; the inner door is half-glazed within a plain surround. A tall corniced ridge stack is centrally located. An added wing to the right features a sash window in a moulded surround to both the ground and first floors. Paired gutter brackets continue on the right return, which has two full-height canted bay windows and a c1900 two-bay addition to the right, with two banded ridge stacks. The left return is rendered, with a five-light mullioned window to the first floor, the central light blocked and with turned mullions and a drip mould above. A lower single-light window is to the right. To the left is a two-storey, two-window addition.

The interior of the original section retains the 17th-century lobby-entry plan, a two-unit layout with rear service rooms. Evidence remains of a timber fire-hood and pyramid chamfer stops to the front room’s spine beams; a heated parlour, partition, and basket arch define the service rooms. Stone-flag floors are present, and a former rear stair window was blocked during the c1900 range addition. The roof is a fine pegged queen-post roof with punched carpenters' marks. Incised plaster in the original range bears the inscriptions ‘W Dewhirst 1 Dec 1837/39’ and ‘JDE Hirst 1840 7 June’.

Historically, the property is thought to have been built by Richard Ellison, likely as a freehold farm (Hill Top Farm). It was possibly subdivided in the mid-18th century. The stonework of the door surround was moved to the right when the new wing was added later in the 19th century, following the raising of the original roof to two full storeys (as evidenced by the 1837-40 dates). The five-light mullioned window was moved from the ground-floor right to the left upper gable. The house was previously owned by Mrs. Holmes in the early 19th century, and subsequently by Susannah Holmes, who sold it to William Gott in 1861. The Merediths were tenants in the later 19th century. The property was subdivided by 1933 and the original house was restored from 1970.