Magpie Cottage

Magpie Cottage is a cottage dating from the early 17th century, with an extension added in the 20th century. It is timber framed and plastered, with a thatched roof. The building is aligned approximately northwest to southeast and has a northeast aspect. Originally, it consisted of two bays but was extended to the northwest by one bay in the 17th century. There is a chimney stack at the inner end of the northwest bay, which dates from the 19th century. A 20th-century extension is located at the rear, featuring a near-flat roof made of corrugated asbestos. Additionally, there are two lean-to extensions to the northwest from the 20th century, roofed with sheet metal and corrugated asbestos, as well as a small lean-to extension at the eastern corner, also from the 20th century, with a roof of interlocking concrete tiles.

The cottage is a single storey with attics and features a plain boarded door set in a thatched gabled porch, which is from the 20th century. There are two casement windows and one fixed light, all dating from the 20th century, along with a 20th-century casement window in a gabled dormer. Inside, the framing is exposed, showcasing arched braces to the cambered central cross beam of the original cottage, positioned below the heads of the posts, with a collar above. An original studded partition below the cross beam is partly present, but there is no partition above. The cottage has jowled corner posts and arched braces in the walls that rise from the posts to the wallplates and southeast tiebeam, located inside the studs and not trenched. There is primary straight bracing in the southeast bay, which has wallplates that are end-joined to those of the original cottage. The original lodged longitudinal joists in the middle bay are of vertical section and unchamfered, and there is no floor in the southeast bay.