Briar Cottage

Briar Cottage is a house located on the north side of High Street in Wethersfield, dating from the 17th century and altered in the 20th century. The building is timber framed, roughcast rendered, and has a roof made of handmade red clay tiles. It features three bays facing southeast, with an axial stack at the right end that was originally external but is now enclosed by a one-bay extension added in the late 17th or early 18th century. There is also a 20th-century external stack at the left end, a single-storey rear extension with a felted lean-to roof, and another extension at the rear right corner with a roof of red interlocking tiles.

The cottage is one storey high with attics and includes one 20th-century splayed bay, two 19th-century casements, and two casements from the 19th or early 20th century in gabled dormers. The front features a 20th-century door set in a gabled porch. The original structure consists of a heated room with two bays and an unheated parlour of one bay, characterized by jowled posts and straight rising braces at the corners, which are trenched inside the studs. The heated room has a chamfered transverse beam with lamb's tongue stops and plain joists of horizontal section. The parlour contains chamfered longitudinal joists of horizontal section also with lamb's tongue stops. All joists are supported on pegged clamps and appear to be original. A large wood-burning hearth is made of 0.23 metre brickwork and features an ogee-headed salt recess on the left flank, although the mantel beam has been replaced. Some original wattle and daub remains in the rear wall. The right extension has a chamfered axial beam with lamb's tongue stops and plain joists of vertical section. The roof is of clasped purlin construction. There is some fire damage noted at the right rear corner of the original building. Briar Cottage is an unusual example of a small house from the first half of the 17th century, showcasing high-quality finishes and an extension added shortly thereafter.