The Cottage Loaf

The Cottage Loaf is a house located on the south side of Stevenage Road in St. Ippollitts. It dates from the late 18th century or early 19th century and was altered around 1840 to serve as a village bakehouse, functioning as a shop until 1976. The building was converted back into a house after the oven was removed in 1977. It features cob walls on brick foundations, with a roughcast finish and a dark painted plinth. The steep slate roof is half-hipped and has a very wide overhang at the eaves and verges, which protects the walls.

The structure is two storeys high and three windows wide, facing north along the roadside. It has gable chimneys made of red brick that are set flush with the outer gable walls. The roof extends downward and has a catslide over a rear outshut. The north front has three flush, two-light small-pane casement windows on each floor, with a battened door located between the first and second windows from the eastern end.