The Old Cottage

The Old Cottage is a house, originally dating to the early 16th century, and now divided into two separate dwellings. It is located in Chapelthorpe, near Criggletstone. The original timber-framed hall was re-faced with stone in the 18th century and further altered in the 19th century, with cross-wings added in the mid to late 17th century. The building is constructed of dressed stone to the east wing, smaller hammer-dressed stone to the west wing and main hall range, all roofed with stone slates. The plan is hall-and-cross-wing, forming an H-shape.

The east and west wings both feature weathered stone plinths and moulded dripcourses. The east wing has a doorway surrounded by a chamfered frame, next to a 5-light double-chamfered mullioned window with almost square reveals, and a 4-light window above with a hoodmould. Coped gables with kneelers and stone bases for missing apex finials are present. The main hall range has a central doorway that has been altered into a window, with windows to either side on both floors, featuring slightly recessed mullions and raised surrounds (those on the ground floor lacking mullions). The wings have external stacks, the one on the right being brick. A 20th-century brick stack is located at the junction between the hall and west wing.

At the rear, the east wing has two bays of small, double-chamfered windows: single lights on the ground floor and a 2-light and single-light window on the first floor. The west wing has two bays of 20th-century chamfered windows on each floor. Disturbed stonework is visible on the hall range, along with a single-storey outbuilding at a right angle, which is not considered to be of special architectural or historic interest.

The interior of the original hall, a 2 1/2-bay post-and-truss construction, features a close-studded rear wall braced to a wall-plate. Posts with jowelled heads support king-post trusses without struts, braced to a square-set ridge; single trenched purlins support large rafters. The ridge stops short at the east end, and evidence remains of a former fire-hood. The east wing contains a king-post truss with 8 vertical struts, and another truss without struts, embedded within the front gable wall and straight-braced to the ridge.

The building is a rare survival in the region.