April Cottage

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TM25NE 5/10001

LETHERINGHAM PARK ROAD April Cottage

II

House. Mid-late C14 with later alterations. Timber-framed and plastered; clay pantiled roof with brick left ridge stack. Three-unit plan with former open hall. Single storey and attic; three-window range. Various C20 casements with glazing bars. C20 porch and boarded door to left and part-glazed door to right. Two-light gabled dormer. Lean-to on left end.

Interior: Much of frame exposed: the original studding is widely-spaced, with straight braces halved against the inner faces of the wallplates. Each wallplate has a stop-splayed scarfjoint 0.8m long. Severe subsidence has resulted in partial rebuilding or restudding, especially at upper end. Hall open truss has steeply-inclined, almost straight, tie beam braces. Evidence for extra tie beam in lower bay of hall, some 0.3m from open truss. Front cross-entry doorway had two-centre arch formed by a pair of kneebraces, of which one survives. Evidence for 6-light hall windows with fairly narrow diamond mullions. Inserted floor in hall has chamfered bridging beam and chamfered joists set flat. Upper floor at parlour end rebuilt circa C18. C17 side purlin roof, evidently reconstructed C20. Incorporated in the roof are two pairs of heavily sooted rafters, one with housings for a low collar; this suggests the original roof was half-hipped. A rare survival in this area of a C14 house.

Listing NGR: TM2726057624