End Cottage

TL 64 SE HELIONS BUMPSTEAD WATER LANE 2/32 End Cottage

GV II

House, C16, altered in C19 and C20. Timber framed, plastered, roof thatched. 4 bays aligned NE-SW, aspect NW, with axial chimney stack in the middle. C20 wing to rear of SW end, forming an L-plan, and single-storey lean-to extension in E angle. Single storey with attics. C20 door, one horizontally sliding sash window of 12 lights, C19. 2 C20 casement windows, 2 more in gabled dormers. Roof hipped at SW end. Date 1799 in modern plaster of NE gable. Some framing exposed internally. Jowled posts, heavy studding with curved braces trenched outside, edge-halved and bridled scarf in SE wallplate. The NE bay was originally of one storey with a gablet roof, later extended to form a gable and floor inserted. There is an original central doorway into the next bay, showing that this was the service end. In the second bay there is a floor of longitudinal joists of horizontal section, unchamfered. Above this the roof is of collar-rafter construction, with some charred timbers. There are 2 large wood-burning hearths, both with apertures for bread ovens to the NW, and a cast iron fireback with the crest of the City of London and the initials FW, C17. SW of this, most of the structure has been renewed, as the result of a fire in 1883 and modern alterations. The fire was recorded in the Cambridge Evening News in 1883, at which time the building comprised 2 cottages, Worlds End Cottage and Water Lane Cottage.

Listing NGR: TL6513841429