Rue Cottage

Rue Cottage is an 18th-century cottage that has undergone alterations and additions in the 20th and 21st centuries. The walls and chimney stack are built of sandstone rubble and have a limewashed finish. The roof was originally thatched with reed, but has been raised and now has a slate tile covering. Internally, the floor is of stone flags, the joinery is of alder, and there is some internal earth plaster. The metal-framed windows are 20th century, and a late-20th century lean-to at the south end provides kitchen and bathroom accommodation. A late-20th century porch fronts the east elevation.

The cottage is a one-and-a-half storey building with a single-depth, two-unit plan, and a gable-end stack to the north end. The entrance elevation (east) has a central doorway with a 21st-century timber door, flanked by ground-floor window openings with timber lintels. A central dormer window is set into the raised roof. The north gable end has a stack and the south gable end has an inserted first-floor window with brickwork around the opening, alongside a 20th-century lean-to addition that extends to the east. The west elevation has a central ground-floor window and a smaller window inserted beneath the raised roof.

Inside, the central entrance door leads to the main living space. A fireplace with a timber lintel is located at the north end, along with a modified 19th-century bread oven, which may have originally been the location of a staircase. A spice cupboard to the left of the fireplace has a timber surround, a re-used timber door with butterfly hinges, and a curved interior, suggesting former stair access. To the south of the entrance door is an open timber cross-wall leading to a smaller, unheated room. Both rooms have roughly-hewn ceiling joists, with a later ceiling beam added at the north end to support the first-floor accommodation. A re-used plank door gives access to a 20th-century timber staircase leading to two first-floor rooms, arranged without a corridor. The south room is believed to have originally been a ‘croglofft’, while the north room contains the chimney breast. The side walls have been built up to accommodate the raised roof. The intermediate timber-framed cross-wall features principal rafters, a thin collar, and a tie beam, with an angled strut on one side and a vertical strut replacing it on the other. Upright struts tenoned into the floor plate are also present beneath the tie beam. The cross-frame appears to have been originally enclosed, with the doorway being a later insertion, although interrupted trusses are characteristic of 18th-century framing.