Bacon End Cottages

Bacon End Cottages is an aisled hall dating from around 1300, which has been substantially altered over seven centuries of use. It is timber-framed with plaster infill and a thatched roof, and now comprises two storeys.

The building originally consisted of a two-bay open hall aligned north-south, with a short entrance bay to the north, a service bay beyond that, and a parlour or solar bay to the south. Aisles flanked both sides of the hall. An end jetty was constructed at the southern end, possibly in the 14th century. The timber-frame shows jowled arcade posts, and the west arcade plate features a trait-de-Jupiter scarf. The arcade braces are slightly curved, of square section, and lap-jointed to the arcade plates, with evidence of tenoned joinery in the entrance bay. Original tiebeams, slightly cambered, survive in the entrance bay, one bearing marks from the former smoke hood. The hall's rafters are original and heavily smoke-blackened, with a mainspan of approximately 3.94 metres and aisles probably of around 1.31 metres each. The ceiling is plastered to the collar level, indicating the original roof was collar-rafter construction.

In the 16th century, the building underwent major changes. A timber-framed smoke hood was constructed in the entrance bay, and a floor was inserted into the hall. Both aisles were then demolished, with timber-framed infill built below the arcade plates. The service end was rebuilt as two full storeys with a gabled roof and an unglazed window in the north wall at first-floor level. The inserted floor in the hall consists of a heavy transverse beam between the arcade posts, an axial beam extending south, and joists of horizontal section, all with stop-chamfered edges. In the service bay, longitudinal joists of square section probably date to the 16th century. The hall's original rafters remain heavily smoke-blackened, with later rafters replacing those at each end of the building.

During the 17th century, an axial brick chimney stack was constructed in the entrance bay, replacing the timber-framed smoke hood and creating a lobby-entrance.

In the early 19th century, the building was converted into two separate cottages. An axial chimney was built in the north bay, positioned back-to-back with the existing larger chimney. The roof at the south end was reconstructed, the jetty was underbuilt, and an external chimney stack was added at the south gable end. The building remained configured as two separate cottages until 1983. A single-storey lean-to extension was added to the rear in the 20th century, and renovation work occurred around 1948.

The west elevation displays four 20th-century casement windows and two 20th-century doors on the ground floor, with five 20th-century casement windows on the first floor. Some timber framing is exposed internally. An unglazed window with two diamond mullions, set in the upper part of the north wall, is visible from inside. The earliest and largest hearth has been reduced internally to accommodate 20th-century storage. Evidence of former unglazed windows at both levels survives in the south wall. Disturbance of the floor structure near the south end indicates the removal of a stair or internal chimney stack.

The building is documented in medieval court rolls as Hodyus or Hodyns, and is probably associated with Thomas de Hodyngg, who held land valued at one quarter of a knight's fee from the Earl of Oxford in 1360.