Valley Cottage

Valley Cottage is a house dating from the early to mid-18th century, with alterations made in the mid-19th century and a rear extension added around 1950. The house is constructed of red brick in a Flemish bond pattern, with a stuccoed plinth; parts of a rear lean-to extension are weatherboarded. The roof is covered with old red tiles. It is a two-storey, two-cell house with an internal chimney stack, situated on the roadside facing south, with upper rooms partially rising into the roof. The south front has two windows to each floor and a later door in the centre. The windows are small-paned casements with segmental arches to the ground floor, and are slightly recessed. Brickwork around the doorway indicates it was cut into the facade. A four-panel, flush-beaded door is recessed behind a gabled timber porch. A door in the east end opens into a smaller room containing an axial beam, a large fireplace with red and black tiles, and a 20th-century three-light casement window on the east wall. A former window on the north wall has been blocked by a rear catslide extension. The larger west room features an axial beam with a chamfer and run-out stops, irregular squared joists, a large fireplace backing onto another fireplace, a winding stair to the rear of the chimney, a two-light window inserted in the west wall, and a wide fireplace on the north side, with a large external chimney that was reportedly used for laundry purposes for Beechwood House. Old iron hinges are on the plank door to the staircase. A detail of the rear wallplate displays an edge-halved scarf joint. A small Victorian fireplace is in the room above the west room. The roof is a clasped purlin roof in two unequal spans with inclined straight queen-posts.