Fosters

Fosters is a house dating to the early 17th century, possibly the late 16th century. It has been substantially altered and extended, with modifications made around 1900, further early 20th-century extensions, and a small kitchen extension added in 2010. The listing principally concerns the earlier portion of the building.

The earliest part of the house forms the southern section and comprises a two-storey, three-bay structure arranged on a lobby-entry plan and aligned north-south. A chimney stack sits between the central and southern bays. The original entrance, which was aligned with this stack, was relocated to the north when the house was extended. The original stair, possibly located at the rear of the stack, no longer survives; access to the upper floor is now via the main staircase in the northern extension.

The original house is constructed in timber framing with later brick infill, as are the extensions. Clay tile roofs cover the building.

The extensions include a large, irregular two-storey gabled cross-wing to the north, creating a T-plan with the earlier house, and an extension to the south bay of the east elevation.

Externally, the original structure displays exposed square timber framing with diagonal braces and jowelled posts. The south elevation features a two-storey canted bay window of around 1900. The central bay of the front (west) elevation has a projecting gable, also of around 1900, beneath which sits a timber mullioned oriel window of the same date. The upper-floor window of the northern bay has been raised to form a hipped dormer, matching that of the northern extension. Windows are mainly early 20th-century two-light timber mullions with iron casements.

The early 20th-century extensions to the north and east are designed in the Vernacular Revival manner, constructed in pegged oak timber framing with brick infill. They feature timber mullioned windows and iron casements. The extension to the east elevation of the original house is two storeys high with an asymmetrical gable.

Internally, the entrance lobby is partitioned on the north side while the south side remains open. The south room's fireplace has been rebuilt in the 20th century, and a number of exposed timbers in this room appear relatively modern. A breach has been made in the east wall of the south bay to connect with the extension. The central room has a chamfered axial beam with stops; some ceiling joists are also chamfered and stopped. The brick fireplace features a plain timber lintel. The original wall separating the central and northern bays has been removed, with a new wall inserted further north to create a larger room; the remainder of the northern bay has been subdivided and a large section of the flank wall removed to connect through to the extension.

On the first floor, the three-bay plan form remains more intact. The main change is the insertion of partitions along the west side to create a corridor linking through to the extension. Oak framing is exposed on the cross walls and the end wall of the original house and is largely intact, except for the removal of a section of two tie-beams to create headroom for the corridor. The tie-beam on the south wall has been cut to accommodate the canted bay. The roof features side-purlins and curved wind braces. A number of rafters have been replaced, and there are no side-purlins in the southern bay. The tie-beam on the north wall of the south room bears the trace of a former door head. The chimneybreast of the central room has an exposed brick hood and a cambered timber lintel. The house contains several handsome oak planked doors which may not be original; these are also present in the northern extension. The interior of the extension is otherwise not of special interest.

Fosters was probably a yeoman farmhouse which became a private dwelling in the late 19th century and was subsequently extended. The precise date of the extensions is unclear from map evidence. An undated early 20th-century photograph titled 'Tudor Cottage' shows that the two-storey canted bay on the south elevation existed by then, along with a single-storey extension on the north end. The house was subsequently extended substantially to the north and east.

Fosters is designated at Grade II for its architectural interest as an early 17th-century, or possibly late 16th-century house which retains a significant proportion of its framing and whose three-bay lobby-entry plan form remains legible, and for its historic interest as an example of a vernacular house plan form prevalent in the late 16th and 17th centuries.