Cotton Lodge

Cotton Lodge is a former farmhouse dating to the late 16th century, built in two closely-dated phases which likely followed an earlier structure. The building was restored in the 1970s. It is timber framed and plastered with parapet gable ends in English bond red brick, featuring diapering on the short front return walls. The roof is covered in plain tiles.

The building originally comprised two cells and has two storeys and an attic. The facade has been restored to its original symmetrical form, featuring T-shaped windows; each window comprises a five-light design with a transom and mullioned side lights. Original cavetto-moulded mullions are found in the side lights on the upper floor, while the remaining windows are 1970s reproductions. The central doorway has a 16th- to 17th-century plank door (repositioned from elsewhere), above which is a five-light window with a transom. Three gabled dormers, dating to the 1970s, are present, each featuring a modillioned lintol and a five-light window with a transom. Matching gable stacks rise from the roof, each with four closely-set square shafts with linked caps. The right gable end has two pairs of small and plain original windows without external splays. Both gables also contain small splayed attic windows. A gabled stair wing extends from the rear, with a similar 1970s addition adjoining it. A one-storey 1970s addition is set back to the left.

The interior reveals a fully exposed timber frame with close studding and evidence of later alterations, particularly concerning the insertion of new windows. The earlier phase, to the left, includes a single room extending over three floors. The ground floor room’s on-edge joists have been plastered over, as originally intended. A rear wallpost features a shaped head. A large open fireplace has an original lintol. The main apartment to the right displays an ogee and hollow-moulded bridging beam and joists, likely from the early to mid-16th century and potentially re-used. A cross beam of a deep, narrow section, supported at the rear by a chamfered post with Jacobean carving, marks the junction between the two phases. The partition wall it carries has an ovolo-moulded doorway. The stair wing abuts the earlier phase but is of a later date and has been much altered, incorporating a re-used former ladder stair with solid treads. Evidence of blocked windows and a probable lost attic flight are visible. The main chamber has an arched stuccoed fireplace. The roof’s main features include butt purlins; in the earlier phase, the upper row of purlins are morticed into diminished principals but are not clasped by the collars—an unusual hybrid form. A painted date "162-" is found on a collar in this section. The house is notable for being an early example of a planned symmetrical frontage and for the fact that all rooms, including attics, were originally heated. The absence of service rooms makes it unlikely the building was originally used as a farmhouse. The property is surrounded by a medieval moat.