Majority Cottage

This is a house, dating back to the 16th century and subsequently remodelled in 1848 for Sir John Boileau’s estate. The structure is timber framed with wattle and daub, clay lump, and rendered and colourwashed walls. It has a thatched roof. The house comprises four cells arranged over two builds, with one-and-a-half storeys. There are internal stacks at each end and a central axial stack, all rebuilt in 1848, featuring shafts. The two cells to the right are later additions and are slightly lower than the others. A band runs just below the eaves, featuring a decorative painted frieze designed to resemble studwork. Cells one and four have tile-roofed bay windows added in 1848. Cells two and three feature double-hung casement windows with original fittings. The doorway to cell two is now blocked. The doorway to cell three has a boarded door, dating from around 1985, with a small rondel displaying the Boileau crest and the date 1848. There are four thatched gabled dormers, each with a casement window, and a doorway to cell four with a door from 1848. The roof features two-layered fretwork bargeboards. The left and right returns are of clay lump with shaped bargeboards; the attics have three-light 19th-century wooden window frames blocked with clay lump. The rear of the house has a clay lump lean-to on the right, with fenestration added in the centre and to the wing on the left in 1986. Inside, there is a 17th-century inserted stack at the gable end of cell one and a stack of 1848 at the gable end of cell four. The large central stack is now enclosed. The first cell contains an inserted floor of around 1600 which features a large cross beam with jewel stops; cracks in the beam have been filled with brick fragments and it is supported by the upper rail of an earlier opening to the rear. The first floor of cell one has low openings from the eaves to the floor, now blocked, which originally had lozenge mullions. Cells one and two have curved roof braces and close rafters; cell four has some straight braces. The year 1848 marked the time when Sir John Boileau's eldest son reached his majority.