Rose Cottage

Rose Cottage is a multi-period timber framed house with origins in the 15th century and successive additions dating from the 16th, 17th, 20th and 21st centuries, located in Almeley.

The timber frame sits on a sandstone rubble plinth and rises four square panels high to the eaves. The hall house range is distinguished by slightly smaller and more regular panels with knee braces extending from some posts. The roofing on the framed parts is symmetrically ridged with Herefordshire stone slates laid to diminishing courses. The fenestration is irregular throughout and consists entirely of modern timber and metal casements with leaded glazing in a mixture of diamond and rectangular panes.

The western elevation of the hall house features two gabled dormers and a porch with door, whilst a brick ridge stack protrudes from the northern gable. Attached to the northern gable of the hall house is a modern stone kitchen extension with a lean-to roof. The 16th-century cross wing has its gable at the centre of the western elevation and carries an external red brick stack on its north side. The eastern elevation mirrors the form and fenestration of the western side, with the hall range marked by a gabled dormer with leaded casements. The southern elevation comprises the 1993 extension on the left and the gable of the 15th-century hall house on the right, where the truss with tie-beam carrying a pair of principal rafters supporting trenched purlins, braced by a collar rafter, vertical and raking struts is clearly visible.

Interior work reveals significant carpentry detail. The roof over the two-celled hall house has principal rafter trusses with trenched purlins, a ridge purlin and straight raking struts above the tie. The hall roof itself features an unusual truss with stub tie beams, embellished with rebated moulding of the posts, single arch braces below the tie and corner braces between the posts and stub tie beams, all chamfered. On the east side, a post has been applied to the end of the stub tie beam giving the impression of a vestigial hammer beam roof. A rubble stone chimney breast with a deep timber lintel has been inserted into the north end of the hall. The inserted floor has a plain chamfered spine beam with a single stop; the absence of a stop where the beam meets the chimney breast suggests the chimney was added after the floor was installed. The original floor in the southern service range is exceptionally robust with joists featuring soffit tenons and a spine beam with plain chamfers and straight cut stops. The western part of this floor has been removed to accommodate a modern staircase. The panelling in the vicinity of the staircase dates probably to the 17th century. Doorways between the cells feature arched heads, probably modern. The cross wing roof is formed of principal rafter trusses with trenched purlins. Three elongated and now blocked rectangular mortise holes cut into the vertical struts above the tie beam in the western gable may represent fittings for a smoke hood. The timber frame remains visible throughout the wing, and the floor frame spine beam has very deep chamfers with straight cut stops.

The building originated as a late 15th-century two-celled hall house consisting of a hall in the northern part and a floored service range to the south. In the 16th century, a floored timber framed cross wing with possible smoke hood was added to the southern end of the western elevation. The western part of the floor of the original service range may have been removed at this time to provide access to the new wing, or may have been cut away when a floor and then a chimney were inserted into the original hall, probably in the 17th century. The 16th-century wing was extended southward in the 1970s by the addition of a timber framed extension, and a stone-built kitchen was added to the northern gable of the hall in the 1990s.