Orchard House

Orchard House

A cottage dating to the late 17th or early 18th century, built of ironstone rubble with some red brick and a thatched roof featuring brick chimney stacks positioned axially and at the gables.

The house faces east onto Main Street and is aligned north-south. The principal range has a rectangular plan with a small rear projection at the north end and a large modern extension at the south end (not shown on current Ordnance Survey maps). The building is one and a half storeys with four slightly irregular bays, the southernmost being a later addition as indicated by stone quoins. The off-centre double-hinged door has four panels with the upper two glazed, probably dating to the 19th century. A gabled wood porch with lattice work sides is a later addition. The renewed fenestration consists of three-light wood casements on the ground floor of the original house and two-light casements above, while the south bay is lit by two-light casements on both floors. Windows have chamfered wood lintels and the upper casements are positioned across the eaves under thatched hoods. The north gable end has a projecting brick chimney and an exposed upper cruck in which the feet of the cruck blades are tenoned into the tie-beam.

The rear (west) elevation features on the left a full-height gabled extension of red brick with a stone plinth, lit by a small single-light window and a two-light casement in the gable head. To the right are two ground-floor two-light casements and between them a semi-circular projection with two phases of brickwork, rising to eaves level with a semi-conical thatched roof. On the right hand side is a large full-height modern extension of stone with extensive glazing under a thatch roof. The south gable end of the original house has a small two-light casement on the left side of the ground floor.

Internally, the front door opens into a small lobby behind which are back-to-back fireplaces. The left room, occupying the first bay of the original house, has a large recessed area with a substantial partially exposed post on the right, indicating the former inglenook now occupied by a log burner. A narrow door to the right leads to what was probably the former oven, since converted into a cupboard. The right room, occupying the second bay, has a 19th-century fireplace with a cast iron round-arched register grate and reeded and roundel surround, flanked by 18th-century fitted cupboards with H-hinges and shaped display shelves. The three rooms of the original house have bridging beams, and the first room has joists that appear to be much later. The later south bay has a substantial chamfered bridging beam and joists. A number of early plank and batten doors with strap hinges survive throughout the house, some with 18th- or early 19th-century door furniture including spring latches and a brass lock case. Ground-floor floors are mostly laid in tiles or flag stones, while one upper-floor room retains early wide floorboards. Exposed roof elements include a pair of roughly hewn collared principal rafters carrying a ridge purlin and side purlins which are scarfed, with a recess on the pair of rafters where a second purlin was formerly trenched. The later south bay has only some exposed common rafters.