Bull Cottages

Bull Cottages comprises two houses, originally an early 16th-century base-cruck hall house with a south crosswing, chimney, and floor inserted in the late 16th and 17th centuries. The building was given a Gothic appearance in the 19th century. The main north-facing range is 1½ storeys, with a 2-storey service crosswing. The east gable of the crosswing has painted brick nogging to the exposed timber frame in the upper part. The roofs are steep and covered with old red tiles. The north side has three-light cast-iron lattice casement windows, and a dormer to number 8. It has four windows and two doors. The hall contains a central base-cruck open truss and a single-bay parlour on the east side; this parlour may have originally extended further east. A cross-passage is marked by two service doors into the crosswing at the west end of the hall. The chimney is 18th century, replacing a late 16th-century smoke bay and reusing an elaborately moulded lintel. A winding stair, chimney, and former baffle entrance are against the central truss in the lower bay of number 6. A floor was inserted into the hall on axial beams, set at a different height in the eastern bay. The timber frame construction is conventional, with jowled posts and a clasped-purlin roof with curved wind braces, some being double curved and dating to the early 16th century. The base crucks are angled and rise to a collar with straight braces from the crucks and long wind braces on each side. The collar carries clasped purlins supporting rafters. The interior demonstrates the structure of a former open hall house with a base-cruck open truss to the two-bay hall.