Salem Cottage

TL 60 17 HIGH RODING THE STREET 4/11 20.2.67 Salem Cottage

GV II

Hall house, c.1400, altered in C16, C17 and C20, with addition C18/19. Timber framed, plastered, roof tiled. Consisted originally of a low 2-bay hall with integral parlour/solar at SW end, and a contemporary 3-bay service crosswing at NE end, jettied at the front, c.1400. A brick chimney stack was inserted in the NE bay of the hall, just off the cross-entry, and a floor inserted, late C16. In the C17 the front wall of the hall was raised by about 1.5 metres, but not the rear, and the roof was rebuilt. A long single-storey extension with axial chimney stack at SW gable, C19. 2 storeys. On ground floor, 2 C20 casement windows, door with gabled and tiled hood, C20, jetty underbuilt as a bay window with 2 horizontal-movement sash windows, C19. On first floor, 3 C20 casement windows and small diamond-shaped window above door. Single- storey extension, 3 C20 casement windows. Some framing exposed internally. Low end of hall had matched pairs of curved rising braces to central post, of which one remains at each floor. Front and rear doors remain in their original, medieval positions, but doorheads missing and frames concealed. C16 inserted stack blocked, with inserted cupboards, brickwork exposed on first floor, rebuilt above first-floor ceiling. Unchamfered common joists of horizontal section in crosswing.

It is probable that the roof was tiled originally. An undated photograph at the NMR shows it thatched, without door hood or diamond-shaped window above, but all other windows unchanged. A thatch fire in August 1973 destroyed the roof, except some charred timbers of the front gable of the crosswing. They show it to have been of crownpost construction, with curved rising braces to the king stud. As a result of the fire the rear end of the crosswing was slightly shortened, and the new roofs were tiled. RCHM 15.

Listing NGR: TL6025917173