Elm Cottage

Elm Cottage is a lobby-entrance house dating from the 17th century, with extensions added in the late 19th century. It is timber-framed and clad in weatherboard, with a roof of handmade red clay tiles. Originally, the house consisted of three bays aligned roughly north-south, with a central chimney stack forming the lobby entrance to the east. A rear wing originally extended from the north end, with an external chimney stack to the south. A late 19th-century extension was built into the southwest angle, aligned north-south, incorporating the stack above and creating twin gables to the south. A lean-to extension was added to the north side, while the 19th-century east elevation features a central glazed door within a gabled, trellised porch, and two 20th-century casement windows on each floor. Both chimney stacks have vertical slots between the flues, a 19th-century detail also seen on other houses around Debden Green, all formerly part of the Debden Hall estate. The south (garden) elevation has carved bargeboards on both gables and on a gabled porch, resembling those at Algars, Debden Green. The original rear wall is now an internal partition, with exposed heavy studding in the upper part. Inside, axial beams, plain-chamfered with lambs' tongue stops, are visible on both floors north and south of the central stack. The ground floor joists have plastered soffits, while the joists on the first floor have been removed and the ceiling rebuilt at a higher level.