Fir Tree Cottage

Fir Tree Cottage is a Bedford Estate cottage dating from around 1830, designed by Edward Blore for John, the 6th Duke of Bedford, and built in a Jacobethan style. The cottage is constructed of red brick with some render and ashlar dressings, and has a clay tile roof with decorative tiles. It follows a two-room plan and exhibits a symmetrical front elevation. The building is one storey in height with attics. A central, two-storey gabled porch features a four-centred arch with a moulded surround under a moulded label, and contains a six-panel four-centred arched door. A moulded string course runs along the first floor and is topped by a two-light window. Above this is a recessed panel displaying a 'B' surmounted by a coronet. The main block has two two-light windows on each floor, and attic windows break through the eaves into gabled dormers. All windows are casement windows with narrow mullions, along with transoms to the ground floor ones, and are set under moulded labels, with octagonal leading. Stone coped gables include kneelers and finials. Integral gable end stacks have paired octagonal shafts with moulded bases and caps. Short sections of screen wall connect the front elevation to single-storey gabled outbuildings. The cottage is a building of group value.