Meadowcroft Thatched Cottage

This is a small hall house dating from the 16th century, which was converted into two cottages in the early 19th century and extended in the 20th century. The structure is timber-framed and has been plastered and weatherboarded, with a thatched roof. It originally comprised two bays aligned approximately northeast to southwest, with a two-storey service wing at the southwest and a two-storey parlour/solar wing at the northeast. An axial chimney stack was inserted immediately southwest of the middle of the hall, along with a new floor, around 1600. An external chimney stack was added at the southwest end in the early 19th century. Single-storey, flat-roofed extensions were added in the 20th century to the northeast, southeast, and southwest. The exterior has a weatherboarded dado above which the walls are plastered. The ground floor has four 19th-century cast iron casement windows, a boarded door with a leaded light, two 20th-century fixed windows, a French window, and further 20th-century fixed windows. There are no first-floor windows on the front elevation. The roof is half-hipped. Internal framing is visible in places, featuring jowled storey posts, heavy studding, curved tension bracing, and outside studs where visible. The hall has a cambered central tiebeam with arched braces, which was not disturbed by the insertion of the chimney stack. The original floor at the northeast end consists of horizontally sectioned, unchamfered joists, arranged longitudinally and raised approximately 30cm above their original position. A new floor was inserted into the hall around 1600, featuring a plain chamfered axial beam with step stops and plain chamfered joists with step stops. An original unglazed window was located at the southwest end, above the tiebeam, with two diamond mullions and a rebate for a hinged shutter; this has been blocked by the external chimney, with a 19th-century cast iron casement placed to one side. A similar rebate at the northeast end indicates the former presence of a matching window. Some original floorboards remain. A 17th-century dormer window was later inserted into the southeast pitch of the hall roof, and contains a cast iron casement. The original doorway from the hall into the parlour is in its original position, and a second doorway was inserted at the same time as the new floor was added to the hall. This hall house is of unusual interest, as it retains much of its original structure and many features from its 19th-century conversion to cottages. The more precise dating within the 16th century may be confirmed by further examination and would likely be around the middle of the century, when clasped purlin roof construction was emerging, but was still accompanied by unglazed windows in the storeyed ends and the use of an open hearth in the hall, which was superseded by a chimney and inserted floor and dormer window.