Sheepcotes Cottages

These are two cottages, originally a single house dating back to the 15th century or earlier. The building was initially an open hall with a cross wing, with a floor and chimney stack inserted between the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The exterior was refronted in the early 19th century and the windows replaced in the 20th century. The timber-framed structure is now clad in roughcast, with a 20th-century tiled roof featuring a gablet on the right-hand side, and two brick chimney stacks. The cottages have two storeys and five windows in total – three to the main part of the house, one to the cross wing, and one in a 20th-century addition. The windows are 20th-century metal-framed casements, and there’s a 20th-century door with a penticed weather hood supported by brackets, alongside a later lean-to addition to the left. The rear elevation features a projecting gable to number 2, an old plank door within the lean-to at number 1, and a 20th-century door.

Inside number 1, the timber framing includes large arched tension traces. A series of large, horizontal peg holes, situated approximately 18 inches above the floor, suggests the location of the former open hall's high end. Other notable interior features include jowled storey posts, a late 16th or early 17th-century inserted floor with plain chamfers and run-out stops, and wide oak floorboards on the first floor above the sitting room. The original inserted chimney stack has been removed, but its position is still discernible from the pattern of framing in the first-floor ceiling joists, where a length of timber has been inserted and strapped to the tie beam.