Lace Cottage

Lace Cottage is a house dating back to the late medieval period, with significant alterations made in the 16th and early 17th centuries, followed by the addition of a storeyed parlour bay in the late 17th century. Around 1800, the front was refronted in brick, with raised front eaves, and it was restored in 1982. The construction is timber frame with roughcast rendering, and a brick front wall, set beneath a red machine-made tile roof, which is steeper on the south bay and hipped at the north end, extending to lower eaves.

Originally a single-storey, two-bay cruck-framed house facing east, it comprised a hall and a narrower north parlour bay. A service bay was likely replaced by a two-storey, cellar and attic parlour block in the 17th century, with a 1½-storey service wing to the southwest rear. The north parlour bay was adapted into a storeyed gabled crosswing around 1600 – featuring axial floor joists. A floor was inserted into the hall with a chamfered axial beam and further chamfered joists, likely contemporary with the new south parlour block. A large chimney, originally containing an oven, was built, providing fireplaces to the hall, south parlour, and rear wing.

The front wall was renewed in brick around 1800, raising the eaves and altering the roofline while incorporating the original structure. Crucially, original front-wall crucks were removed and the uniform roof front obliterated. The east front is now divided into two unequal parts. The longer north section has two first-floor windows and three ground-floor windows, two to the left of a plank door, with recessed, small-paned casement windows. The ground-floor openings have cambered arches. A north gable external chimney contains a single flue. The taller south section features a single recessed sash window with 5/10 panes of crown glass on the first floor, above a projecting rectangular oriel window with small panes, external folding shutters, and a canopy extending over a panelled door leading up steps. An arched, vaulted brick extension under the hall provides access to a cellar. The south gable is plastered, with a three-light casement attic window. A 1½-storey short rear wing incorporates a swept dormer.

At the rear, an outshut exposes the foot of a central cruck, resting on a large stone with chalk packing. The cruck blade rises with a spur-tie, king-post and convex tension braces on either side. A fragment of the rear-wall blade of the south cruck truss remains, along with a straight wind-brace to the rear purlin. The rear-blade in the north gable appears to have been cut off to the east of the rear purlin, where the wallplate of the crosswing is joined as a later adaptation. A closed truss in the middle contains remnants of wattle and daub infill in the roof space, and an inserted floor is supported by a crossbeam with an expanded end jointed into a jowled post inserted in the front wall, as part of a secondary adaptation of the north bay as a crosswing.

The house was occupied by a succession of village craftsmen in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the southern part was used as a shop. Stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops are present.