The Cottage

The Cottage is a house located in Blackmore, dating from around 1600 and the mid-17th century, with an extension added around 1984. It features a timber-framed structure that is weatherboarded and has a roof made of handmade red clay tiles. The building has a two-bay range facing northeast, with the left bay dating to around 1600 and the right bay to the mid-17th century. An 18th-century external stack is located at the left end, and there is a small 20th-century lean-to extension at the right end.

At the rear, there is a parallel range added in 1984, which extends to the left of the main range and includes an external stack at the left end. The house is two storeys high and has a two-window range featuring 18th and 19th-century horizontal sash windows with six over six lights, some of which have early sheet glass and handmade glass, all framed with simple moulded surrounds. A 20th-century door is situated at the front of a gabled porch that has a tiled roof.

Inside, the left bay contains jowled posts and straight bracing within heavy studding, with rising braces at the front and back and down braces at the sides. Much of the original wattle and daub infill remains, and there is an unglazed window on the left side of the first floor, complete with diamond mullions, although it is now concealed by exterior and interior finishes. The axial beam is chamfered with lamb's tongue stops, and the plain joists are of vertical section. The rear wallplate has been severed for two doorways. The roof features clasped purlins and is ceiled to the soffits of the collars.

In the right bay, the posts have square-cut jowls similar to those found in early New England houses, with primary straight bracing and heavy studs that are tenoned at the top and bottom but mostly not pegged. The floor structure is similar to that of the left bay, with both floors reportedly made of oak boards, though now covered by 20th-century softwood boards for leveling. The roof of the right bay was rebuilt in softwood in the 19th century and includes a ridge. The rear wallplate here is also severed for one doorway. This building is an unusually interesting example of the structural differences between timber-framed construction from around 1600 and later in the 17th century, having been conservatively renovated between 1983 and 1988. The windows and early glass are particularly noteworthy and deserve special care.