Old Farm Cottages At Watersplace Farm South Of B1004

Old Farm Cottages at Watersplace Farm, dating back to the 16th century or earlier, was likely originally built for Sir Thomas Bourchier (died 1492) or Henry Bourchier, Earl of Essex (died 1540). The southern portion of the building was rebuilt in the 17th century, and the south and west frontages were later faced with brickwork in the 19th century. The structure is timber-framed and plastered, with a steep roof covered in old red tiles, hipped to the west and gabled to the east. The west front and south side are clad in yellow brick. The building is two storeys high, but a 17th-century central staircase rises to former attic rooms.

The northern range (No. 2) is a two-bay crosswing, originally part of a larger open hall that extended to the south. It contains a large room on each floor, and was accessed from the hall by a wide arched doorway in the south wall of its eastern bay, now blocked by the staircase. The crosswing features a collar-purlin roof with a central cruciform crown-post and 4-way arched bracing.

During the 17th century, the original hall was demolished and a two-storey, two-unit, lobby-entry house with a central chimney (No. 1) was constructed approximately 3 meters to the south, parallel to the crosswing. A dog-leg staircase with sinuous splat balusters was built in the space between, leading to a long entrance hall which later became a 19th-century parlour (now within No. 2). The west end of the crosswing roof was altered to a hipped form and a central chimney was inserted in that wing. The 17th-century work includes heavy chamfered cross-beams, unjowled posts, a butt-purlin roof with tennoned rafters, and some smoke-blackened rafters reused from the old hall.

The symmetrical west front has three windows and a central four-panel door, partially glazed. Recessed sash windows with flat arches are present on the ground floor, and 2/2 panes are above. The irregular south front features a similar door between a canted bay window on the right (with small panes) and a sash window on the left, set in a rectangular wall recess that likely intended for a small conservatory. The plastered north front has a four-light casement window to the northeast room.

Interior features include two pairs of scratch-moulded, panelled cupboard doors with a lozenge motif carved into the upper panels on the first floor, an unusual bolection moulded wood fire surround with a keel mould composed of symmetrical cyma-curves linked by a small roll, two-panel doors and H-hinges, and heavy curved knee-braces supporting the main cross-beam of the northern range – now incorporated into cupboards flanking the central chimney. The house is believed to represent the capital messuage called Waters Place within the manor of Waters, held as part of the manor of Ware, first documented during the reign of Henry VII. Sir Thomas Bourchier held it in 1492, and his heir, Henry, Earl of Essex, retained the house when he alienated the manor of Waters in 1505, resulting in Watersplace becoming a separate manor or tenement.