The Thatched Cottage

The Thatched Cottage is a house dating from the mid-to-late 17th century, situated on the north side of Green Street in Little Hadham. It is a long, one-and-a-half-storey timber-framed building, now plastered on its south-facing front. The roof is thatched and extends down over a single-storey rear lean-to, which has red tile eaves. Dripboards are positioned over the three-light gable windows on both floors. A small, gabled porch, thatched and plastered, is located one-third of the way along the east side of the front. There is a central red brick chimney in the middle of the house, and two small gabled dormers are set into the wall plate. The front has a four-window arrangement, with modern iron casements. Wooden casements are found in the front dormers, being two-light and three-light respectively. The layout suggests the house was originally built as two semi-detached properties with back-to-back fireplaces, ovens, and staircases. Each original house comprised two rooms on each floor, with an entrance to the room containing a fireplace. Inside, stop-chamfered axial beams support square joists, while the front wall plate features a face-halved and bladed scarf joint. An open fireplace is present, with a stop-chamfered timber lintel. A rear, tiled gabled dormer provides headroom for staircases and contains two widely-spaced small windows. The rear outshot was an original feature of each house. The roof structure uses side purlins. The property was formerly known as Berry Cottage until approximately 1960.