Outhouse at May Cottage 3 Metres North of House is a Grade II listed building in the East Hertfordshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 30 April 1985. Outhouse.

Outhouse at May Cottage 3 Metres North of House

WRENN ID
young-pavement-dock
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
East Hertfordshire
Constituency
North East Hertfordshire MP: Chris Hinchliff (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
30 April 1985
Type
Outhouse
OS grid reference
TL 435 217
Coordinates
51.87551, 0.08445
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The building is an outhouse at May Cottage, located 3 metres north of the house. It dates back to the 16th century and is a tall, two-bay timber-framed structure that is weatherboarded, featuring a steeply pitched gabled roof now covered with corrugated iron. The front wall slopes to the west and has an irregular pattern of windows, along with a plank door situated near the corner of the south gable. Originally, this was a two-storey domestic structure of good quality, with close-studded walls and tension bracing, as well as heavy jowled posts. There are holes in the timbers that indicate where wattle and daub infill was once used. A surviving three-light diamond mullioned window with a shutter groove is located on the rear (east) wall at the first-floor level. The front wall has head mortices and shutter grooves for similar windows on both levels. The posts feature original corbels for the floor beams. The roof is high with clasped purlins, curved wind braces, and heavy flat laid rafters, along with lapped collars and diminished principal rafters. This outhouse is likely associated with the significant 16th and 15th-century house immediately to the south, known as May Cottage or Gouldburn.

Local climate

Outhouse at May Cottage 3 Metres North of House sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 700 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 90% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 84% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 56% of listed buildings. Of these, 17 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  6. The Nag's Head Public House Grade II 120 m
  7. The Old Brick House and No. 2 Ford Hill Grade II* 122 m
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  9. Houghtons Grade II 192 m
  10. Maltings Grade II 227 m