Elm Cottage

Elm Cottage is a cottage dating back to the 16th century, with significant alterations around 1700, the early 19th century, and the 20th century. It is timber-framed on a brick sill and has weatherboard cladding with a thatched roof, which is hipped at the north end. The plan is rectangular, comprising two units.

The south part of the house is the main block and features a red brick stack towards the south end. The north part is a smaller addition with a central red brick stack, the same width but with lower eaves and a lower roof apex, creating a stepped roofline where the thatch sweeps down. A 20th-century refurbishment has renewed the windows and some weatherboard, but the windows retain their original size and the weatherboarding blends with the irregularity of the underlying structure.

The west front has a 19th-century boarded door to the south unit, along with one window to the south and two to the north. The north sub-unit has a similar door and window to the north. All windows are 2-light casements with single horizontal glazing bars, arranged as 2x2 panes. The rear (east) elevation of the south unit has a single casement window with glazing bars (4x2 panes overall), while the north sub-unit has two smaller similar windows. The south end elevation has a single 2-light casement window with horizontal glazing bars (2x2 panes). The north end elevation features plain weatherboarding and a central 20th-century boarded door.

Inside the main block, timber framing from around 1700 is visible, with primary bracing and some reused timber. There are three main trusses, at the centre and each end, dating to the early to mid-16th century, featuring jowled posts. The north end truss and wall plates are particularly informative, originally having central arched braces to the tie-beam and internal arched braces traversing wall studding above a middle rail, a feature also found in contemporary buildings in the Epping area. Redundant mortice holes suggest another bay existed at the north end, where the lower addition is now. Slots are visible for a wattled transverse partition. The north unit is a later addition, likely from the early 19th century, with more evenly sawn timber. The roof rafters were rebuilt in softwood in the 19th century. The south stack has a single early 19th-century segment-headed fireplace, while the north stack has two back-to-back fireplaces: one on the south side (now 20th-century), the other on the north side with an early 19th-century wooden fire surround.

Elm Cottage is the simplest surviving dwelling of 16th-century origin in the Brentwood District and is representative of a type of house commonly depicted on historical maps but now largely lost.