Highgates Cottages

Highgates Cottages is a house that has been divided into three dwellings. It dates back to the early 15th century or earlier, with later additions and alterations. The structure is timber framed and plastered, topped with red plain tiled roofs and featuring three red brick chimney stacks. The building has a complex plan, originally designed as a hall house with jettied gabled crosswings on both the right and left sides. The left crosswing has an outshot to the left and a ground floor bay beneath the jetty. To the right of the hall, there is a forward gable with a leaded three-light transomed window. The right crosswing includes a red tiled lean-to porch. The crosswings are two storeys high, while the hall is one storey with attics. At the far right, there is a two-storey gabled crosswing with a jetty on the left return, along with various gabled wings at the rear. The building features a window range of 1:1:1:1, consisting of various 17th, 18th, and 19th century casements, some of which are leaded. Some original mullions remain, including one with original shutters, and there are curved jetty brackets and a pentice board on the left crosswing gable. The property has three vertically boarded doors, with the centre and right doors having lights. Inside, there are original brick fireplaces with mantel beams, including one on the first floor right that has a cambered mantel beam. Part of the arches of the screens passage doors are visible, and the hall features a sooted, cross quadrate crownpost roof. It is reputed that the building was used as a nunnery for the Order of the Poor Clares after their persecution and flight during the French Revolution.