The Croft

The Croft is a pair of houses, originally three cottages, dating to the 16th century with 18th-century additions and alterations, and renovated in the early 21st century. Numbers 2 and 3 have a rendered oak, timber frame on a brick plinth, while number 1 has a softwood frame encased with over-painted brick. The roof is a catslide design, covered in pantiles, with three rebuilt ridge stacks. The 21st-century houses have timber casement windows on the ground floor, three dormers with pent roofs on the front facade, and a single dormer to the rear.

The interior of number 1 has little original interest. Numbers 2 and 3 contain significant portions of a 16th-century building’s front and rear wall frames, including jowled storey posts, wall plates, chamfered bridging beams, sole plates, arched braces, studs, and tie beams. A window and door opening is visible at the rear. All timbers are pegged, and a scarf joint is present in the front wall plate. Also visible are 18th-century internal cross frames, some studs, rafters, and a clasped purlin roof. Stack bays and winding stairs were inserted at the east and west ends. A large inglenook fireplace with a bread oven is in the ground floor right-hand room, while a smaller, rendered inglenook fireplace is in the left-hand room. Substantial sections of in situ wattle and daub panels survive on the rear frame and cross frames, some being exposed. Some studs, rafters, and parts of the wall plate have been replaced during the 21st-century renovation, and part of the front wall plinth has been rebuilt.

The Croft is an example of a 16th-century timber-framed building, remodelled in the 18th century and renovated in the early 21st century. The buildings were formerly divided into three units, but numbers 2 and 3 contain most of a 16th-century timber frame of good quality and craftsmanship, which may have been a floored house. In the 18th century, an additional unit was added to the west, and the 16th-century building was remodelled and subdivided. The 18th-century plan-form remains, and most of the 16th and 18th-century frame survives intact. In addition, two inglenook fireplaces and surviving wattle and daub panelling remain. The property largely survives in its original condition and is therefore listed at Grade II for its group value.