Roffey Cottages

Roffey Cottages is a house that dates back to the 16th century or earlier, with alterations made in the 17th and 19th centuries. It has been converted into two cottages. The building is timber framed, roughcast rendered, and has a roof made of handmade red clay tiles. It consists of four bays aligned approximately northeast to southwest, with a northwest aspect. There is a chimney stack located in the second bay from the southwest, which forms a lobby entrance (door number 2), and an external chimney stack at the northeast end.

At the rear, there is a lean-to extension and a single-storey extension to the rear of the southwest bay, both from the 19th century. The building is two storeys high. On the ground floor, there are two plain boarded doors from the 19th or 20th century, three casement windows, and two fixed lights from the 20th century. The roof is hipped at both ends.

Original wall plates can be seen just above the first-floor level, featuring edge halved and bridled scarfs. The middle tie beam is missing, but the others remain in place. There is a second set of wall plates and tie beams approximately 1.5 metres above the first. The floor in the two middle bays is supported on pegged clamps, and the axial beams are plain chamfered with lamb's tongue stops, while the joists above the ground and first floors are of vertical section and unchamfered. No wall framing is exposed. Originally, the house had eaves that were only about 2.5 metres high. The presence of clamps supporting the inserted floor in the two middle bays indicates that it was originally an open hall. In the 17th century, the walls were raised by about 1.5 metres, and the roof was rebuilt, transforming it into a lobby-entrance house with two full storeys. In the 19th century, it was divided into cottages. This appears to be the same house that the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments recorded in Harlow parish, which had grouped diagonal chimney shafts, although those are no longer present.