Water Lane Cottage

A house dating to the late 15th century, originally an open hall house. A floor was inserted in the 16th century, and in the 18th century, the building was reduced to two bays and faced with red brick. A north end addition was built around 1968. The house is timber-framed and brick-cased, with a steep roof of old red tiles. The west-facing elevation presents as a two-story, two-window house with a hipped glazed central porch and three-light leaded casement windows. A single-story brick and tile extension is situated beyond the external north gable chimney.

The building represents the surviving southern half of a four-bay medieval hall house that formerly extended northwards. The remaining bay was the upper end and contains a timber partition with mortices for bench pegs. The roof space contains a former open truss with an arched-braced collar beam. The inserted floor in the hall has elaborately moulded beams and chamfered joists with three-sided stepped stops. The off-centre placement of a beam in front of the chimney indicates a previous wooden chimney which has been replaced by the current 18th-century brick chimney. The south gable features jowled posts and straight braces, incorporating a shutter groove under the tie-beam and central post. A stair trap is located in the southeast corner. Carpenter's marks are visible on flat joists. The roof has a clasped-purlin structure. Cast iron Boxmoor grazing rights plaques, numbered 657 and 658 (the latter preserved inside the house), are also present.