White Cottage, former Pest House

White Cottage, former Pest House

This is an L-shaped house comprising a west range and perpendicular east range. It originated as a pest house built in the late 16th century, was largely rebuilt between 1789 and 1790, and was altered and extended as a private dwelling around 1880.

The exterior is rendered in painted red brick with natural slate roofs and timber-framed windows and doors. The ground floor of the north gable of the west range retains the earliest fabric, constructed of coursed rubble stone dating from the late 16th century. The remainder of the west range was rebuilt and extended with the perpendicular east range around 1790, and the east range was extended eastward around 1880. The slate roof covering was most likely replaced around 1880.

The west range, rebuilt around 1790, has three symmetrical window bays to the ground floor of its west elevation and two to the first floor. The west range has a red brick chimneystack to its north gable with a pair of red brick flues and 20th-century terracotta pots. The south gable of the west range shows evidence of a blocked door opening and a former chimneystack which has been removed, most likely around 1880.

The north elevation of the east range has a single-storey lean-to porch, built around 1790, now with a blocked door opening. This was extended eastward with the addition of a pantry and shed around 1880. An additional lean-to shed was added to the north around 1960. The east range has two door openings: the main entrance at the west end of the south elevation has a 20th-century timber-panelled door within a segmental-arched door surround; and the kitchen has a late 19th-century timber battened door within a flat-arched door surround, with a late 19th-century door latch and handle. The east range has two chimneystacks at the junction of the former east gable and its late 19th-century extension, each having a pair of red brick flues and 20th-century terracotta pots. The windows appear to have been replaced around 1880 and mostly comprise two timber-framed casements with a central moulded mullion.

The interior of the west range, dating from the late 16th century and largely rebuilt between 1789 and 1790, has a two-cell plan on its ground and first floors, with the south room being larger. Both ground floor rooms have exposed floor joists to their ceiling. The south rooms have a blocked fireplace on their south wall, although no chimneystack survives on the exterior. The north rooms have a fireplace at the centre of their north walls, with replacement 20th-century fire surrounds.

The north room of the ground floor has a recessed cupboard at the north end of the east wall, blocking a former door opening from the single-storey porch on the north side of the east range. The west part of the east range appears to be contemporary with the west range and also has exposed floor joists to the ceiling of the entrance hall. The entrance hall has an enclosed winder stair to the first floor in its north-west corner, a door on the north wall from the north porch, and a fireplace with a 20th-century fire surround at the centre of the east wall.

The kitchen, which was added to the east around 1880, has a fire opening on its west wall with an Aga installed in the 20th century, an integrated cupboard to the north of the fireplace, and a single-storey lean-to pantry off the north side of the kitchen. The first floor of the east range has a corridor running along its north side, with a bathroom over the entrance hall and a bedroom over the kitchen.

The roof structure is concealed, except at the first floor stair landing, where the ends of the rafters of the east slope of the roof of the west range and wall plate are visible over the stair.

Detached sheds and greenhouses were constructed to the north-east and east of the house around 1960 and are excluded from the listing.