Gainsborough Cottage

Gainsborough Cottage is a pair of cottages and an ancillary building from the 18th or 19th century, which have been linked to form a 20th-century house. The structure is timber framed, plastered, and has a roof made of handmade red clay tiles.

The first cottage is two stories tall and is aligned approximately north-south, facing west. It features a hipped roof and an external chimney stack on the east wall near the southeast corner, with a 20th-century rear extension added to the north end. The second cottage, located to the southeast and cornered with the first, is also two stories. Its roof is hipped to the south and gabled to the north, with an external chimney stack at the south end.

A 20th-century link unit connects the first cottage to a single-story ancillary building to the northwest, which has been extended to the north to create a carport. The west elevation of this link unit includes wrought iron gates in the carport, two 20th-century casement windows with imitation leading and external hinged shutters, and a 20th-century octagonal dovecote with a weathervane on the ridge. The link unit is glazed.

In the first cottage, the ground floor features one fixed light, one bay window with casements and a tiled roof, and one double-hung sash window with four lights, all from the 20th century and with imitation leading. There is a central six-panel door from the 18th or 19th century. The interior includes part of a shell hood dating to around 1700 over the door, with carved wooden putti brackets on scrolled bases attached to the jambs, though these do not support the hood. On the first floor, there are two late 19th-century double-hung sash windows with 16 lights and 20th-century external hinged shutters. A wooden plaque with the inscribed date 1692 is attached to the wall above the door.

The second cottage has one early 19th-century double-hung sash window with 16 lights on each floor. These buildings were originally simpler structures that comprised three tenements in 1843, as recorded in the Essex Record Office. They have been extensively altered with the addition of antique features from higher-status houses of earlier dates, as well as 20th-century reproductions of features that were not originally present. The property is listed for its group value.