Newtons Hill Cottage

Newtons Hill Cottage

A late 16th-century house, probably built to a lobby entrance plan, which was converted into two cottages during the 18th century and restored to single occupancy around 1970. At that time, a two-storey extension was added at the west end and a large gable was constructed on the north side.

The building is timber-framed with an oak frame. The ground floor is clad in Flemish bond red brick with grey headers, while the first floor is clad in tile-hanging. The roof is tiled with brick and stone external chimneystacks. Windows are uPVC casements in wood frames.

Originally, the house was rectangular with three bays, with the main entrance on the south side and an external end chimneystack. Internally there was a large hall to the east and possibly a parlour to the west, with three chambers above. When converted to two cottages in the 18th century, a further external chimneystack was probably added. The 1970s restoration provided a two-storey west extension containing a kitchen on the ground floor and bedroom above, and a north extension with an entrance hallway and study on the ground floor and a bedroom and bathroom above.

The north side, now the entrance front but originally the rear, displays a large projecting mid-20th-century central gable with three first-floor windows above an entrance flanked by casement windows. To the east of the gable, the ground floor has 18th-century Flemish bond brickwork with tile-hanging above and casement windows, mirrored to the west. The east end features a massive tapering external 16th-century brick chimneystack, mainly in English bond on a stone base.

The south side, which was originally the entrance front, retains some 18th-century Flemish bond brickwork with vitrified headers at ground floor level, though it has been patched with 20th-century brickwork. It has later 20th-century casement and French windows. The later 20th-century west bay uses matching materials. The west side, part of the 20th-century extension, has a plain brick ground floor and tile-hung first floor.

Internally, the 1970s entrance hall on the north leads west to the study, which has two exposed upright posts on the line of the original north external wall and an early 19th-century ledged plank door.

A similar door in the south wall of the entrance hallway opens into the sitting room, which spans two bays and has an open fireplace at the east end wall. The fireplace has a wooden bressumer with run-out stops, some 16th-century brickwork, and two alcoves above the bressumer. The central bay contains a chamfered axial beam, though the joists are not chamfered; nail holes indicate they were originally plastered. The ceiling is unusually high, suggesting the floor level may have been lowered.

A wide half-winder staircase with timber-framed partitions separates the sitting room from the dining room and leads to the upper floor. The dining room, to the west of the staircase, contains a smaller, probably 18th-century brick open fireplace with a wooden bressumer, originally set in an external chimneystack.

The kitchen and breakfast room occupy the 1970s west extension and contain reused timbers and 21st-century fittings.

On the first floor, the eastern bedroom, originally the principal heated chamber, has a large 16th-century brick fireplace, mainly in English bond, with a wooden bressumer. The wall frame, with mid-rail and corner posts, is exposed, and a blocked original window opening is visible on the north wall. Queen post roof trusses, purlins, and the lower parts of the rafters below the purlins are exposed.

The adjoining bedroom also displays exposed wall frame and rafters below the purlins. The eastern wall-plate retains sockets for an earlier partition.

The bathroom to the north-west of the staircase contains some exposed ends of rafter feet and weathered framing with a curved brace, originally part of an external wall. The north-eastern 16th-century corner post is also visible.

The bedroom to the south-west of the staircase has exposed wall-framing and an early 19th-century ledged plank door.

The west master bedroom retains the tapering brick upper part of the formerly external west chimneystack. Apart from this feature, the room is part of the 1970s west extension and contains wall frame and queen-post timbers reused, probably from a local barn.

The three outbuildings in the grounds are not of special interest and are excluded from the listing.