Queen'S Cottage

Queen's Cottage is a house that was originally a manor court hall, dating from the late 16th century, with alterations made in the 17th century and later. The building features a rendered and colourwashed timber frame, topped with a plain tile roof and a brick ridge stack. It has a four-bay plan that originally included a two-bay central first-floor hall, but it has since been modified into an L-shape. The cottage is two storeys high and has a mix of 20th-century windows and a door located in a lean-to porch on the east end.

Inside, the cottage showcases tall panel framing and includes a wide four-centred arched doorway in the north wall, which has been later blocked. There are remnants of an original window nearby and evidence of a narrower door for tenants on the west side. The upper floor features massive undecorated cambered tie beams and some surviving arched braces. There is also evidence of original four-light glazed mullioned windows in the south and north walls. The surviving western open truss tie-beam has braces on the south end and two mortices for studs on the north end, which may relate to a staircase structure leading from the tenants' door.

The roof consists of large principal rafters that extend to a squared ridge piece, with partially housed purlins on the upper face and straight diagonal braces from the tie beams. Reversed cranked wind braces extend to the purlins, all designed to be visible from the upper floor, while the spine beams and ceilings are later additions. The east wall features fan bracing that was originally exposed both internally and externally to the adjacent road. The quality of the carpentry throughout is notably high, and the roof shows signs of smoke blackening near the 17th-century inserted stack.

Historically, the hall was likely converted into a house with an open fireplace and stack added to create a lobby-entry plan in the late 17th century. The open internal space was divided by timber stud partitions set below the original cross-beams. A parlour fireplace was added later, possibly when the house was divided into cottages around 1800. Queen's Cottage is a significant example of an unusual building type, with much of its original structure still intact.