Peckham Cottage

Peckham Cottage, now divided into two dwellings, dates back to the late 15th century, with the middle and right-hand bays likely built around 1470, and the left-hand bay slightly later. An 18th century rear outshut and mid-20th century single-storey extensions have been added. The house is timber-framed with weatherboarded ground-floor cladding, a rendered right-hand end, a brick axial stack behind the ridge and a tiled hipped roof.

The building’s original plan was an open hall, remodelled in the late 16th or early 17th century with the insertion of a floor and stack. The exterior has two storeys, an attic, and a cellar, with a four-window frontage. A continuous first-floor jetty is supported by curved brackets. There are 20th-century doors in the centre and on the left-hand side, an 8/8-pane sash window in a flush frame on the right-hand side, and a French window to the left of centre. The first floor features exposed posts and two curved tension braces at the left-hand end bays. Four regularly-spaced early 19th century paired pointed-arched windows with metal 6-pane casements and glazed tympana are distributed across the first floor. Three former clerestory windows beneath the eaves have been blocked. The right-hand return has a single casement window.

Internally, the timber frame includes jowl posts on the second floor, and a solar with a rear tension brace. An inserted stack sits in what was formerly a smoke bay between the middle and right-hand bays, incorporating a rear window with diamond mullions and a shutter groove, possibly for smoke control. An asymmetrical lateral beam is positioned towards the front, likely associated with a former lobby, and a former rear central stair bay is now integrated into the outshut; the left-hand bay represents a separate construction. The house contains cupboards with HL and cock's comb hinges. The roof is reported to contain crown post trusses, closed to the third bay from the west, but open above the collar, and is smoke-blackened.