Stores Cottage

Stores Cottage is a 17th-century house that has been altered and extended, likely in the 19th and 20th centuries. A later, non-historic structure called Pitt Cottage was built attached to the northeast side in the 1980s. The original building is of timber-frame construction with rendered walls, resting on a brick plinth, and has a tile roof. The plan is ‘L’ shaped, with a single-storey extension to the southwest and a later wing, plus a 20th-century conservatory at the rear.

The main part of the house is two storeys high, with gable roofs. The façade includes a six-panel door on the left-hand side, sheltered by a projecting hood supported by carved brackets. To the right are 20th-century casement windows in altered openings on both ground and first floors. The southwest elevation has a single-storey outshot with a pent roof, positioned in front of a stepped brick chimney stack. This chimney has sloping shoulders and diagonal shafts that have been rebuilt at the top. A tie beam is visible in the northeast gable end. The later wing is rendered and has a brick chimney where it joins the roof of the original building. A 20th-century glazed conservatory has been added to this wing.

Although the interior has not been inspected, a portion of the original timber frame of the northeast gable end of Stores Cottage is visible within the interior wall of Pitt Cottage. This includes a mid rail, a wall post on the ground floor, and a tie beam and studs visible in the attic space.

Little Waldingfield was historically important in Suffolk’s woollen cloth industry between the 15th and 17th centuries. Historical records show that in 1886, Stores Cottage was connected to a two-bay shop and an additional range to the north. The footprint of the cottage and shop remained unchanged on the Ordnance Survey map of 1926. The shop was largely destroyed by fire in the mid-20th century and replaced by Pitt Cottage in the 1980s.

Stores Cottage is designated at Grade II for its architectural and historical significance. It retains a good amount of its original fabric, with notable features like the external chimney stack and surviving timber framing. It also has group value with other listed buildings in the village’s historic centre.