Box Tree Cottage

House. Dating from the 15th century as an open hall house, it was altered in the late 17th century when a floor was inserted, and again in the 19th century. The house is timber-framed with stucco sill and roughcast rendering, with some red brick to the ground floor at the northern end. It has a steep-pitched roof that was originally thatched, now slated at the front and with old red tiles at the rear, extending over an outshut. The main house is two storeys high with a three-cell plan, featuring a four-bay structure with a hall, a late 17th-century inserted chimney and fireplace at the north end of the hall, and a parlour to the south with a staircase and a large external southern gable chimney. A service bay is situated at the north end, incorporating a winding stair in the northwest corner and an 18th-century external northern gable chimney. The west front has three three-light flush casement windows on each floor, the upper ones set into a deep, plaster eaves cove. A continuous drip extends over the ground floor windows, and a four-panel flush beaded door leads into the lower bay of the hall. The interior reveals an exposed timber frame with brick infill, including curved corner tension braces cut into the backs of studs, jowled posts, straight tension braces in two hall bays, and a clasped-purlin roof with curved wind-braces. The hall floor is supported by a cross-beam. The service bay contains original axial joists of a substantial size. Wallplates feature edge-halved scarf joints with bridled butts.