Keepers Cottage, Mill Hill, Capel St Mary

Keepers Cottage is a lobby-entry vernacular cottage dating to around 1700, with extensions added to the north and west before 1886. The house is constructed primarily of red brick laid in a monk bond, with some burnt headers, and features a timber frame for the upper walling and roof structure. The hipped roof is covered in thatch, while parts of the extensions are clad in pebble-dash render or weatherboard. The original two-cell plan form, with a central lobby entry, remains visible.

The principal east-facing elevation showcases the hipped thatch roof, which extends to a cat-slide over the north extension on the right. The main entrance is centrally located at ground floor, positioned beneath a segmental brick lintel that matches the timber-framed window openings on either side. This entrance corresponds with the brick chimney stack rising from the ridgeline. A four-panelled door, dating to the 19th century, is set within the lintel. A thatched dormer is located off-centre on the first floor, to the right. The south elevation has brickwork at ground and first floor levels over the original cottage, with a three-light timber-framed window at first floor, featuring four square panes in each light. A ground floor extension to the west has rendered wall coverings and a single window. At the west elevation, the roof extends down to the wall plate of the ground floor. A plank and batten door is present, but there are no windows in the main part of this elevation. A window is set back in the north extension’s weatherboarded return wall. The north side of the cottage is mostly clad in weatherboard, and the roof descends in stages to cover the north extension. A single window is found in the brick return wall of the west extension.

The interior retains the original plan form, with a lobby entry leading to single rooms on either side of the central chimney stack. The ground floor plan has been elaborated by extensions to the north and west. Notable features include plank and batten doors, a 17th-century panelled door leading to the southern ground floor room, cupboard doors fitted with L-hinges, and the staircase to the first floor. Matchboard dado panelling is present in the northern ground floor room and the bathroom. Exposed timber framing is visible on the first floor, and many of the floor surfaces are historic, including early 19th-century brick flooring on the south side of the ground floor. The original brick chimney stack survives, although fireplaces have been altered. The front of the southern ground floor fireplace has been reconstructed, and the interior of the northern fireplace has been partially in-filled to accommodate a former coal grate.