Salem Cottage

Salem Cottage is a hall house dating from around 1400, with alterations made in the 16th, 17th, and 20th centuries, and an addition from the 18th or 19th century. The building is timber framed, plastered, and has a tiled roof. Originally, it consisted of a low two-bay hall with an integral parlour or solar at the southwest end, and a contemporary three-bay service crosswing at the northeast end, which jettied at the front. A brick chimney stack was inserted in the northeast bay of the hall, just off the cross-entry, with a floor added in the late 16th century. In the 17th century, the front wall of the hall was raised by about 1.5 metres, while the rear wall remained unchanged, and the roof was rebuilt. A long single-storey extension with an axial chimney stack at the southwest gable was added in the 19th century.

The cottage has two storeys. On the ground floor, there are two 20th-century casement windows, a door with a gabled and tiled hood from the 20th century, and a jetty underbuilt as a bay window featuring two horizontal-movement sash windows from the 19th century. The first floor has three 20th-century casement windows and a small diamond-shaped window above the door. The single-storey extension has three 20th-century casement windows. Some of the framing is exposed internally, and the low end of the hall features matched pairs of curved rising braces to a central post, with one brace remaining on each floor. The front and rear doors are in their original medieval positions, although the doorheads are missing and the frames are concealed. A 16th-century inserted stack is blocked, with cupboards inserted, and the brickwork is exposed on the first floor, rebuilt above the first-floor ceiling. The crosswing contains unchamfered common joists of horizontal section.

It is likely that the roof was originally tiled. An undated photograph at the National Monuments Record shows it thatched, lacking the door hood and diamond-shaped window above, but with all other windows unchanged. A thatch fire in August 1973 destroyed the roof, leaving only some charred timbers of the front gable of the crosswing, which indicate it had a crownpost construction with curved rising braces to the king stud. Following the fire, the rear end of the crosswing was slightly shortened, and the new roofs were tiled.