Shepherds Cottage

Shepherd’s Cottage is originally two cottages, later joined to form a single property, dating to circa 1583, with modifications in the mid-18th century and a 20th-century link block. The construction is timber-framed with outer walls of coursed ironstone, incorporating galleting, red brick dressings, and tiled roofs with red brick chimneystacks. The building is two storeys high, featuring two windows in each section. Originally, each cottage had a three-room plan.

The northern part of the cottage has a half-hipped roof, with an end chimneystack to the west and an external stack to the north. It features a deep plinth, 19th-century casement windows within original surrounds, and an 18th-century wide doorcase to the south. A pebbledashed 20th-century lean-to is attached to the north. The southern part has a hipped roof to the west and a gabled roof with a brick chimneystack to the east. It also has two 19th-century casements within original openings and a doorcase with a 20th-century brick and wooden porch.

The interior of the northern part includes a south door opening into a lobby, exposed axial beams and floor joists dated to 1583, an 18th-century partition wall, and a cambered brick fireplace to the west, containing a bread oven and a recess for smoking meat above. It also features a chamfered spine beam. A staircase partition, dating from the early 19th century, contains a straight staircase, and the first floor retains a 19th-century cast iron firegrate. The roof is not accessible. The southern cottage retains exposed floor joists, although the staircase was added in the 20th century.

The original cottages were built in the former Royal Forest of Wolmer. Dendro-dating has confirmed the felling date of the first-floor joists as 1583. Deeds for the northern part date to 29th September 1747, when John Eade, a stonemason, acquired the freehold. The datestone of 1764 on this part indicates the date when John Eade raised the roof by a foot during a replacement of the thatched roof with plaintiled roofing. Deeds for the southern part go back to 1820.

The building is considered to be of group value, demonstrating its historical and architectural significance.