Maygotts

House. Early 15th century, extended in the 20th century. Timber-framed and plastered, roofed with handmade red clay tiles. The building comprises a 2-bay cross-wing facing north-east, which is all that survives of a former hall house that once extended to the north-west, with a 20th-century single-storey lean-to to the left, a 20th-century extension to the rear, and a series of 20th-century extensions to the right, creating an irregular half-H plan. Two storeys throughout. All windows are 20th-century casements. A 20th-century door is set within a gabled porch at the front. The roof has a gablet hip to the rear, enclosed by the 20th-century extension.

The interior displays the characteristic carpentry of the period. Jowled posts support heavy studding with curved braces trenched to the outside. Two studs have been removed behind the middle left post on the lower storey to form a doorway, with one stud and two grown knees later introduced. Grooves for sliding shutters survive in the soffits of the bressumer and front tie-beam, though these are now blocked with plaster. On the right wall at ground level, an original doorway with a chamfered 3-centred arched head sits immediately behind the front corner post, featuring a mortice and the remains of a draught screen in the rear doorpost. A further doorway was created by the removal of two studs. Carpenters' assembly marks number the structural series from I to X running front to back, with the middle post designated V and a gap marking a blocked original doorway at the far end.

Heavy horizontal joists are jointed to the binding beam with unrefined central tenons; all are complete except for one replaced joist at the rear left. A blocked original stair strap is visible against the right wall immediately behind the binding beam. The binding beam itself retains mortices and a wattle groove indicating a former partition between the bays. A cambered tie-beam is present, though the arched braces formerly attached to it are missing. The roof is a complete crownpost structure, consisting of a plain square crownpost with two arched axial braces to the collar-purlin in the front bay, tenoned to the hip rafter at the rear.

The cross-wing's form is unusual. Evidence of a former partition between the bays on the ground floor might suggest it was a service wing, yet the positions of the two doorways and the draught screen indicate it must have functioned as the parlour or solar wing, divided for unknown reasons—possibly because a now-missing service end was used for a shop or trading purpose.

Historical records show the house in the Petre archives under the name Maggots. A 1556 survey records it as 40 feet in length (5 feet longer than the present structure), 18 feet wide (the cross-wing measures 18 feet 6 inches internally at ground floor level), and 9 feet high to the eaves, with a partly tiled roof. The property then included a detached kitchen with tiled roof measuring 20 by 13 feet (7 feet high to the eaves), a thatched barn of 33 by 13 feet (7 feet to the eaves), and a second thatched barn of 33 by 13 feet (8 feet to the eaves). The holding was 16 acres. The house appears in court rolls in 1570, 1578, 1579, and 1601. The Walker map of 1601 depicts it as a low hall range with a central door and brick chimney, one window on each side, and a 2-storey cross-wing to the left, all with tiled roofs; at that date it held 19 acres.