Hill Top Cottages Thatched Cottage

Hill Top Cottages, also known as Thatched Cottage, is a house that has been divided into three cottages. It dates back to the 13th or 14th century and has undergone later alterations and additions. The structure is timber framed with brick infill panels that have replaced wattle and daub, along with some brick rebuilding. It features a hipped thatch roof with a scalloped ridge and a brick ridge stack.

The building consists of a three-bay aisled hall that runs east-west and faces south, containing a roughly central cross-passage. To the west is a single-bay hall, and to the east is a service bay. There is a two-bay south projecting western cross-wing that includes the chamber block, with the south bay of the cross-wing having been extended to the west, likely in the 19th century. The left side has a projecting two-storey cross-wing, while the right side features a former single-storey hall range that has an inserted attic floor. The front elevation has a roughly 2:5 window arrangement, primarily consisting of 19th-century casements. The thatched roof extends over two attic windows on the left side of the hall range. A 19th-century boarded door is located at the left end of the hall range.

Some exposed framing can be seen at the left end of the hall range, revealing that the wall framing consists of two tiers of large rectangular panels, which is more evident at the rear. An exposed aisle truss at the east end of the house has arch braces extending from jowelled aisle posts to a middle rail, with an aisle tie on the right connecting to a wall post.

Inside, there are two more aisle trusses that define the cross-passage, with arch braces extending from the aisle posts to the tie beams of the transverse trusses and to the arcade plates. The braces over the cross passage nearly meet to form an archway. The roof is smoke blackened with collar rafters and lacks longitudinal stiffening. The timber framing is exposed throughout. Hill Top Cottages and Thatched Cottage is one of only two fully-aisled halls known in Staffordshire as of the last resurvey in November 1986.