Oak Beam Cottage Warley Green Cottage

Two adjoining cottages on Great Warley Street, Great Warley. The buildings date from the mid-16th century with late 18th-century and 20th-century additions and alterations. They are timber-framed with rendered walls and some brick replacement of ground-floor walling, topped with a peg-tiled roof.

The cottages are arranged as two storeys with a jettied cross-wing to the north and adjoining ranges running along the road front. Two further additions extend to the south with progressively lower roof levels.

The front (west) elevation faces north-south, with the cross-wing occupying the northernmost section. At ground floor of the cross-wing stands a central 20th-century framed door with shaped rails, three upper glazed panels and three lower panels. A 20th-century casement window with glazing bars (3x3 panes) is positioned nearby. On the first floor sits a similar window with remains of old zigzag pargeting visible; the side purlins of the roof show through, and house framing is cased at the corners of the jetty, with one bracket surviving. An 18th-century stack rises on the north flank wall.

The principal block presents a two-window range with a central door. Upper glazing features glazing bars (4x3 panes) with one lower fielded panel. Windows flank the door: ground-floor windows have small leaded panes (one 3-light with a plain glass replacement in the central light; one 2-light), while first-floor windows are similar but with old panes replaced in an irregular pattern. The windows combine iron and wood casements.

The southern addition is single-storeyed with 20th-century zigzag pargeting and weatherboarding; a second, smaller addition continues in similar style. One window is 18th-century with glazing bars (5x3 panes) and fixed lights; another is 20th-century with glazing bars (4x3 panes) and fixed lights.

The rear (east) elevation repeats the front blocks. The cross-wing extends backward with a hipped roof. A 20th-century jettied addition projects to the south of the old cross-wing. No. 4 has a 20th-century rear lean-to adjacent to the 20th-century work of No. 3.

No. 3's rear elevation is entirely 20th-century, presenting a two-window range: ground floor has a door with a semicircular-headed glazed upper light (glazing bars, 3x3 panes) flanked by windows (one 2-light casement, one 3-light casement); the first floor has two 2-light casement windows.

The north end elevation shows the old cross-wing and 20th-century rear blocks. An 18th-century brick ground floor continues around this elevation with a contemporary stack. Above, the wall is rough-cast covering 20th-century brick rendered and colourwashed additions; a rear hip roof caps the section. Single casement windows appear on both ground and first floors.

The rear of No. 3 is weatherboarded. An old addition features a 20th-century door with upper glazing (3x4 panes) and lower boarded panel, and a 20th-century picture window. A single-flue stack set diagonally emerges through the roof. A second old addition contains two 19th-century casement windows (one with glazing bars, 2x2 panes) and a 20th-century skylight. The principal range is masked by a 20th-century weatherboarded lean-to housing a boarded door, a double picture window, and a casement window; the east end has a further 20th-century casement window.

The interior displays mid-16th-century timber framing with jowled posts. The plan comprises a hall and a cross-wing. The hall features interior tension braced framing and a high double arched bracing at the high end where it meets the cross-wing. Above, a roof rafter couple carries elegant arched bracing to a collar, all chamfered, creating a decorative canopy-like feature. The framing at the low end is typical of a hall high end, with holes for fixing a bench and a mortice for a bench end, plus tension braces from the central post. Carpenters' assembly marks are visible on the framing, though much has since been cut away. Two doorways lead through to the high end parlour. Four mullion holes and a shutter rebate in the front hall top plate indicate the position of a deep hall window. Hall principal posts are chamfered with step-stops. The central truss carries raking queen struts supporting a collar, with side purlins featuring wind braces and fillet moulding run down from arched braces. The low end cross wall of the hall contains a ground-floor medieval window with two mullion bars—an unusual feature in this position where a cross passage would normally be expected.

The cross-wing dates from the same period as the hall and spans two and a half bays, with a half bay projecting at the rear. It retains remains of a mullion window and a stair trap. Ground-floor ceiling joists display diminished haunched soffit tenons and carpenters' marks. Where wall framing is exposed, a heavy early primary bracing system is evident. A large rear lateral stack to the hall may be original (no soot marks are visible on the upper structure). The hall's low end has flat laid joists, simply lodged, possibly representing a partial infilling of the hall.

An addition at the south end, dating to around 1700, features rising braces to an end tie-beam and a trapped side purlin roof.

The house is transitional in type, bridging the medieval open hall and post-medieval storeyed forms, employing both medieval and post-medieval framing systems. The lateral stack and the partial infilling of the hall represent typical intermediate stages of this evolution. Nos 3 and 4 Great Warley Street form part of a group of buildings sited around the green.