Pear Tree Cottage

Pear Tree Cottage is a house dating back to the 16th century, with alterations and additions made in the 17th and 20th centuries. It is timber-framed and has been rough cast and rendered, with a peg-tiled roof. The house originally comprised three sections and is now one and a half storeys high, with a three-window front of 20th-century wooden casement windows. A centrally positioned 19th-century front door has flush panels and a simple 20th-century gabled brick and timber porch. A double stack is located in line with the door. Two gabled dormers feature 19th-century casement windows. A break in the front wall towards the north end suggests a period of rebuilding or addition.

Inside, much of the original timber framing is exposed but has been considerably altered. The interior reveals evidence of a medieval hall house, including a hall window with six mullions and sill joints within the central two-bay section, with sooting on the tie-beam above. A high-end cross wall has rear arched braces and a single doorway bearing carpenters’ assembly marks. The north end, originally a storeyed bay, was rebuilt in the 17th century, while the south end service bay was refloored and had its walls considerably rebuilt in the same century, featuring primary bracing and a principal binding joist with lambs' tongue stops to chamfers. Axial common joists have diminished haunched tenons with small pendant soffits and a joist clamp on the south end wall. A 17th-century division was added to the hall, with an associated stack backing onto the site of the cross passage. Common joists are deep section, with diminished haunched tenons and pendant soffits sitting on clamps on the side walls. An elm bridging joist with lambs' tongue chamfer stops joins the stack and is cradled into the high-end cross wall by a wooden supporting strap. To allow for movement on the upper floor, internal tie-beams were cut through and the roof rebuilt using clasped side purlins, with some framing constructed to support the cut beams; the dormer windows were likely added at this time. Later in the 17th century, a second chimney stack was built on the site of the cross passage, converting the house to a lobby entrance form and providing heating for a service room. A 19th-century refurbishment included the dormer casements and front door. Recent renovations have uncovered a child's leather shoe, a boy's cap, and a girl's lace work hat with dried flowers found within the angle between the floor and front wall of the low-end storeyed bay.

At the rear of the house are two 20th-century brick cross-wings. There are two 20th-century French windows, one wooden casement window with 4x3 panes, and on the first floor, one wooden casement with glazing bars, 4x4 panes in each gable. The rear roof is clad in 20th-century machine-made tiles, and the north end wall is weatherboarded.