Lordship Cottage

This is a house, originally a chapel, dating back to the early 13th century. It was converted into a house in the late 16th or early 17th century, when a bay was added to the west end. That bay was later removed and replaced in the 20th century with a single-story brick room. The original clunch rubble and limestone walls of the 13th-century building remain largely intact, with minor alterations.

The south side features two buttresses, likely of post-medieval date, with rebuilt offsets. The north side has been re-clad in gault brick, with a decorative band between the ground and first floors. The steeply pitched roof is also from the late 16th or early 17th century and is covered in plain tiles. Chimneys are present at both the west and east gable ends, dating back to the conversion to a house; the east chimney probably retains its original brickwork, while the west chimney has likely been rebuilt. The house’s layout now reflects a post-medieval design with a hall, a service wing, and a parlour wing. A narrow stair and entry bay is located between the hall and service areas.

The building is two stories high with attics. A surviving 13th-century lancet window, with splayed reveals and coursed clunch ashlar quoins, is visible at the first floor of the west gable end. A larger window opening, with brick voussoirs forming a two-centred arch, was revealed around 1980. On the east end, three larger 13th-century lancets are present, with matching quoins and splays, though the arches and window heads were replaced around 1600. The south wall’s windows are largely 20th century, except for a late 16th or early 17th century three-light window with chamfered mullions, found in a closet. The original doorway to the chapel is no longer visible; the present doorway dates to the conversion into a house.

The interior features timber-framed partition walls. These walls have deeply incised carpenters marks on their studs. The original staircase retains its newel posts with concave finials, moulded rail, and blocked balustrading. Ground floor doorways lead from the hall to the stair and entry bay, one of which is original. Abutting hearths are present in the hall and parlour. An upper room above the service wing has an original fireplace that obscures one of the three original 13th-century windows on the east side. The room also contains an original closet. The main beams are stop-chamfered, and the roof structure is of butt purlin construction with straight wind bracing between the rafters and the purlins.