Pett'S Cottage, Armond House And House Immediately To North East

This complex group originally comprised a 15th-century house and an 18th-century house, which were combined and re-divided to form three dwellings. The building is timber-framed, with plaster and weatherboarding, and a roof of handmade red clay tiles, all facing northwest.

The 18th-century house occupies the northeastern part of Armond House and the adjacent house to the northeast. It features an axial stack positioned almost centrally, a lean-to garage to the left, and a rear lean-to extension. The house is two storeys high, with attics, and has early 19th-century sash windows with 16 lights, and 18th- or early 19th-century sashes with 12 lights, some of which contain crown glass. A 6-panel door with a plain overlight is positioned at the left end of the front elevation, sheltered by a flat canopy with scrolled brackets. The roof has a gambrel shape, with an elaborately moulded eaves cornice in a Gothic style.

The 15th-century house, situated to the southwest of the 18th-century section, is part of the southwest portion of Armond House and Pett’s Cottage to the southwest. It is a 2-bay hall house with an early 17th-century stack in the left bay. Originally, there was a storeyed service bay to the left and a storeyed parlour/solar bay to the right. There are rear extensions. The house is two storeys high and features three 20th-century casements on the ground floor, and four on the first floor. A 6-panel door, with the upper four panels glazed, provides access to Armond House, while a plain boarded door serves Pett’s Cottage.

During a survey in September 1985, Armond House was undergoing major renovations. A trellised gabled porch had been demolished and a timber-framed false front, complete with a parapet, was being replaced with breeze block. The ground floor of Pett’s Cottage is weatherboarded.

The 15th-century house exhibits jowled posts, heavy studding with curved tension braces trenched to the outside, some original stick wattle and daub panels, and edge-halved and bridled scarfs in both wallplates. The service end has plain, horizontally sectioned joists. An inserted floor in the hall features a deeply chamfered transverse beam. The inserted stack has been heavily altered. Other features include diamond mortices, shutter grooves for unglazed windows, and a crownpost roof, which is heavily smoke-blackened. The central crownpost is octagonal, with a square base, a moulded square cap, and 4-way arched braces.

The building was recorded as three dwellings in the tithe award of 1841. The Gothic eaves cornice bears close similarities to that of Oakley House, Thorpe-le-Soken.