Briar Lea Peartree Cottage

A pair of attached cottages, known as Peartree Cottage and Briar Lea, dating to approximately the mid-16th century, with substantial remodelling or rebuilding in the mid-17th century, and an addition in the early 19th century. The cottages are constructed of stone rubble with a gable-ended thatched roof to the right-hand end, which has been reclad in plain tiles; Briar Lea has a painted brick facade with a gable-ended plain tile roof. Brick lateral and gable end stacks are also present.

Peartree Cottage originally featured a 2-room plan, with small rooms partitioned off at the rear. It may have originally been open to the roof, with a central timber-framed partition and floors inserted in the mid-17th century, or it could represent a 17th-century rebuild, possibly as a pair of cottages, re-using some smoke-blackened roof timbers. The partitions forming the small back rooms were likely added in the 18th or early 19th century. Briar Lea was built in the early 19th century as a separate cottage at the north end, and subsequently, the rear right-hand chamber of Peartree Cottage was incorporated into its accommodation.

The cottages present as a 1-storey and attic structure with an asymmetrical 2-window front. C19 two-light casements with glazing bars are visible externally. A doorway on the left-hand side features a wooden chamfered frame with mason's mitres and a plank door. Two small dormers break the eaves of the thatched roof, and a large brick stack is located on the right. At the rear, a similar doorframe is present on the right, and a dormer with a chamfered wooden frame is on the left. Briar Lea, to the right (north), has a two-storey facade with small two-light casements and a doorway on the left, now with a 20th-century porch. An outshut is situated at the rear.

The interior of Peartree Cottage exhibits a larger left-hand room with a chamfered axial beam without stops and unchamfered joists, alongside a large dressed stone fireplace with an unchamfered timber lintel. The smaller right-hand room contains similar axial beams and joists and a stack in the front right-hand corner, with a new fireplace and a small cupboard above, the door of which is carved. A partition at the back has a two-light window with leaded panes. The central timber-framed partition has been partly removed on the ground floor but remains complete above. The attic chambers have exposed purlins, wall-plates, and wind-braces at the front. The roof lacks trusses, instead featuring the central timber-framed partition with principals crossed at the apex, with re-used, smoke-blackened collar and queen-struts. Large purlins, those at the front and the ridge-piece, are also re-used and smoke-blackened, along with some smoke-blackened common rafters. The interior of Briar Lea has not been inspected.