Pillar Box Cottage

Pillar Box Cottage is a former open hall house, probably built in the 16th century, which has been substantially extended and altered. It is now a private dwelling. The building is timber-framed and cement rendered with a clay tile roof and a brick stack.

The original structure was a single-storey three-bay open hall house, aligned roughly north to south. It was floored and a stack inserted in the 17th century. Mid-19th-century, early 20th-century and late 20th-century extensions have created a roughly cruciform plan. The principal architectural interest is concentrated in the 16th-century range; the 19th and 20th-century additions are of lesser significance.

The exterior of the former open hall range on the west side is adjoined on its right by a mid-19th to early 20th-century gabled range. This is of one-and-a-half storeys with four- and two-light casements to the ground floor and a gabled attic dormer with a three-light casement. The right-hand return has a blind ground floor and a three-light casement above. The rear elevation of the former open hall range is obscured at ground floor level by a 1990s conservatory. Its ground floor has a glazed door with a four-light casement to its right-hand side. Above are two gabled attic dormers with three- and four-light casements to the left- and right-hand sides respectively.

To the west side, a two-storey gabled range is adjoined on its left by a 1980s extension and in turn by a 1990s extension, both of one-and-a-half storeys. The 1980s extension has a pair of French doors and a flanking cross window on its ground floor along with a gabled dormer with a three-light casement to the attic. The 1990s range, which is slightly recessed behind the building line of the 1980s extension, has a two-light casement on the west side, while its north wall has a four-light casement on the ground floor and a gabled dormer with a two-light casement to the attic. The rear east elevation of these two additions reads as a single composition with an off-centre left six-panelled door beneath a gabled hood on curved wooden brackets. It is flanked on each side by single-light casements and to the attic there is a large gabled dormer with a three-light casement.

To the left, projecting at right angles, is a gabled range of one-and-a-half storeys, probably built in the 1980s to replace a 19th-century range. Its north, east and south walls all have four-light casements to the ground floor and gabled attic dormers with three-, four- and four-light casements respectively. Placed in the angle between this range and the 16th-century range is a 1990s conservatory.

All casement windows and the door in the east wall of the former open hall range are of late 20th-century date and have horizontal glazing bars. The roof has exposed rafter ends throughout and is covered with decorative panels of fish scale tiles bordered by plain tiles. Most gable heads have pargetted panels with relief decoration. The brick stack is probably of mid-19th-century date.

The interior concentrates its special interest in the former 16th-century open hall range. It is of three bays, each defined throughout by jowled wall posts, except for the north end wall where the posts and much framing were removed when the bay was remodelled and opened out to accommodate a mid-19th-century addition. The north bay also accommodates a lateral brick stack whose insertion, probably in the 17th century, resulted in the removal of a large section of stud walling between the north and centre bays to accommodate an inglenook fireplace with a timber bressumer. The remaining section of stud wall consists of three studs set into a deep sole plate which has been partly cut away on the west side to form a doorway. To the ceiling there is a chamfered axial beam with lambs tongue stops supported at the division between the centre and south bays by a pillow on the head on a large timber post; the presence of peg holes and mortices in the post suggests that it is a reused piece of timber. From the pillow a chamfered axial beam spans the length of the southern bay where the east and west walls have some exposed studwork, with the walling on the east side having a concave brace. The ceiling also has exposed joists, possibly indicating the position of a former solar.

On the first floor of the former open hall, which is accessed by a late 20th-century dog-leg staircase, much of the timber framing is exposed throughout. It includes a clasped purlin roof that retains the majority of the tie beams, collars, rafters and wall plates, although some rafters have been removed below purlin level to accommodate dormer windows, and some tie beams have been cut to create doorways. A small section of the original north end wall, which was largely removed in the mid-19th century, has been recreated at the head of the staircase, possibly in the late 20th century, using both reclaimed and modern timber.

The walls throughout are mainly covered with plasterboard. The 19th and 20th-century additions retain no features of note.