Poplar Farm Cottage

A cottage, probably of early C18 date. The windows are mainly C19 within earlier openings and there is a 1970s rear extension. The C20 WC and 1970s flat-roofed extension on the east side are not of special interest.

MATERIALS: the cottage is timber-framed, under built in brick in stretcher bond on the west side with a tile-hung upper floor on the west side and weather-boarding on the east side. The tiled roof has an end chimneystack with a sandstone base and brick above.

PLAN: a two-storey, two-bay, end chimneystack house with an off-central entrance with a staircase opposite. Internally there were two unequal sized rooms on each floor. The plan has been little changed subsequently except for a small C20 WC and a 1970s single-storey replacement of an earlier penticed outshot, both on the east side.

EXTERIOR: the west or entrance front has two C19 horizontally sliding casements within original openings on the first floor. The ground floor has one similar window and a larger casement on the right hand side. The off-central doorcase has a four-panelled door behind a gabled wooden porch supported on piers.

The east side has no windows on the first floor and one small casement window to the ground floor. The south end of this side has the return of the sandstone chimneybreast. Much of this side is obscured by a single-storey brick 1970s extension.

The south end has the sandstone chimneybreast.

The north side of the property is concealed by the later Poplar Farm.

INTERIOR: the entrance from the west leads directly into the south sitting room which has a chamfered spine beam with run-out stops and un-chamfered ceiling joists, originally plastered over. The large open fireplace has a wooden bressumer on brick sides, a bread oven on the left side, a seat on the right side and two spice recesses. The walls have C18 dado panelling. A plank door in the north wall leads directly onto the staircase. The dining room to the north also has exposed ceiling beams.

The kitchen and bathroom's west wall was the original east external wall and has an exposed box frame with some visible carpenters' marks that appears to extend into the upper floor. There is evidence in the north wall of the bathroom for a former penticed outshot with original truss timbers.

The half-winder staircase is original and retains its framed partition walls and old floor boards to the landing. The larger south bedroom has exposed wall-plates, jowled corner posts and wide oak floorboards. The north bedroom has exposed wall-plates and iron pintle hinges to the door frame.

The property retains a virtually complete series of ledged plank doors.