Decoy Cottage

Decoy Cottage is an estate cottage, originally a pair, built around 1850. It was constructed in the Cottage Ornée style for the keepers of the decoy ponds located 100 meters to the northwest on the Orwell Park Estate. The building has two storeys with plastered walls, and the upper floor overhangs on all sides, supported by curved brackets that simulate joist ends. The roofs are covered in fish-scale tiles with overhanging verges, featuring prominent arcaded barge-boards adorned with acorn drop-finials and turned spike-finials. At the rear, there are two gault brick chimneys, each with three circular shafts made of spiral- and zigzag-carved brick, complete with moulded caps and bases. The windows are wooden, with mullions and transoms, and contain small iron panes shaped like diamonds and octagons. On the first floor, there are corbelled oriel windows with bonnet tiled roofs at both gables. The central entrance porch is also prominent, extending over two storeys and featuring an open framework of rustic posts and braces. The arched-headed entrance doorway has a four-panelled door decorated with nail-head ornamentation and painted glazed upper panels.