May Cottage And Gouldburn

May Cottage and Gouldburn is a house, now divided into two properties, dating from the 15th century or earlier, with the northern part (May Cottage) from the 16th century. The building has two storeys, is timber-framed and plastered, and faces west. It features a steep old red tile gabled roof and a large central chimney, with an external chimney on the south gable. There is a small 19th-century stair projection at the rear of Gouldburn. Originally, it had a three-unit lobby entry plan, and the middle part of the roof is heavily smoke blackened. A narrow bay next to the north gable may have been a former smoke bay for the parlour. The front has panelled pargetting with three windows, a central door with a flat hood and shaped brackets, and a door to May Cottage located next to the north corner. The plinth is made of flint with brick on top.

The southern part (Gouldburn) contains a former open hall. It has arch braces that are hollow chamfered, supporting a central cambered tie beam. The front wall features close studding and tension bracing. The roof is a single framed collar rafter type with lapped joints, and there is an inserted floor on a stopped and chamfered axial beam. The timbers show heavy sooting. The current central chimney is from the 18th century. May Cottage has a lower wall plate, tension bracing, and a shutter-groove for a former unglazed window on the first floor front. The roof has clasped purlins with curved wind braces and queen strut trusses, and the floor is supported by a cross beam and axial joists. The narrow bay on the north end is likely a former smoke bay. There are two early 18th-century panel doors with HL hinges. This building is a notable example of a 15th-century timber-framed open hall house, with a sooted roof of archaic construction and a 16th-century parlour end, featuring a separate smoke bay on the north.