Keeper's Cottage

Keeper's Cottage

An agricultural or estate cottage of late 17th or early 18th-century date which has undergone additions and alterations in the 20th century.

The original building is of red brick laid in Flemish bond with a plain tiled, gabled roof. It was rectangular in plan, two storeys high with two rooms to each floor. An eastern extension was added containing a living room at ground-floor level and a bedroom and bathroom above. The position of the present staircase was established before a further two-storey extension was added to the northern gable end of the original house in 1984.

The western entrance front comprises three bays disposed nearly symmetrically. Window joinery has been replaced but appears to follow the original pattern of two and three-light casements. The floors are divided by a projecting plat band three bricks in depth, which extends along the flanks and to the rear. The entrance stands to the right of centre in a gabled brick porch added in the mid-20th century. To either side are two-light casements with cambered heads, and at first-floor level are two three-light windows. To the left, set slightly back, is the 1984 addition with a lower ridge than the original house. This extension has a window to the left of the ground floor and a projecting porch at right with a door and window beneath a catslide roof, together with two gabled dormers at first-floor level. The plat band motif between floors continues across this section.

The southern gable has exposed timber framing comprising a tie and collar connected by three vertical posts. Below are a two-light first-floor window and a single-light ground-floor window. The post-war extension to the right continues the walling in Flemish bond with a band between floors and includes a chimney stack.

The eastern (rear) front has the post-war extension at the left with a shallow recessed porch at ground-floor level with a timber fascia to the lintel. Brickwork around the French windows at its centre appears to have been renewed. The first floor has two two-light casements, above which are paired gables with applied timber framing. To the right, in the re-entrant angle, is a small single-storey addition, formerly a boiler house with a lean-to roof. Behind this is a portion of the original house walling with two-light windows to both floors, the ground-floor window surrounds having new brickwork. Further right is the 1984 extension with patio doors of five lights to the ground floor and a two-light gabled dormer window to the first floor.

The northern side shows the 1984 extension with a two-light window to the ground floor and a single light above beneath the half-hipped gable end. Behind stands the gable end of the original cottage, of brick with timber framing similar to the south flank.

The ground floor of the interior retains a central axial ceiling beam and joists bearing nail holes indicating the former presence of a plaster ceiling. The wall between the two ground-floor rooms of the original cottage has been partially removed, with shelving to its lower body and exposed upright timbers above. The fireplace in the present dining room is angled with a timber bressumer and brick cheeks. The staircase has no handrail, renewed skirting and a closed string. Double doors lead from the dining room through the original east wall to the post-war extension, and further doors in the northern gable wall lead to the porch entrance and the kitchen constructed in 1984.

At first-floor level an original plank door serves a bedroom in the original part of the house, which also contains an angled fireplace. The wall plate and tie beam of the central truss are exposed. The loft retains whitewashed, chamfered purlins supporting the common rafters and a low, boarded cross-axial partition, which appears to indicate a revised ceiling height to the first-floor level.