1 and 2 Lower Toothill Farm Cottages

1 and 2 Lower Toothill Farm Cottages

This Grade II listed building is a former single dwelling dating from around the early 17th century. It was refaced in brick, subdivided into two separate dwellings, and extended in around the late 19th century.

The building is timber-framed and has been refaced in brick laid in Sussex-bond, with a pitched slate roof topped by three brick chimney stacks. The main range is one-and-a-half storeys and follows an east-west axis. Originally a baffle-entry house of at least three bays, it was subdivided into two dwellings: 1 Lower Toothill Farm Cottages to the east and 2 Lower Toothill Farm Cottages to the west. Late 19th-century extensions extend to the north.

The south elevation contains four multi-pane casement windows topped by brick segmental arches, with a central pitched-roof porch and a pair of dormer windows. Three brick chimney stacks sit along the roof ridge: the largest is positioned behind the entrance porch, a lateral stack occupies the west end and is flanked by a ground-floor window and pair of first-floor windows, and another stack runs along the east end of the ridge. To the rear are later two-storey brick additions with pitched roofs and first-floor timber cladding.

Within 2 Lower Toothill Farm Cottage, surviving timber-frame is evident in the west end and central bay. The south porch retains timber-framing evidence in its former front elevation and opens onto the substantial central fireplace, which includes a former bread oven and timber bressumer. A winder staircase stands on the opposite side of the fireplace. The house contains two principal trusses with box-frame crosswalls below, and evidence of timber framing survives in the former rear north wall. The ground-floor central bay features a stopped-and-chamfered spine beam. Above the fireplace and on the south side of the spine beam is a stopped-and-chamfered mantel beam, possibly indicating a former smoke bay. The timber-framed wall to the west bay contains two openings; around the right-hand doorway are remains of the original doorway, including a chamfered rail above and a jamb. The left-hand door was added around the early 19th century when this end was subdivided into two rooms. The right-hand room ceiling exposes the underside of early floorboards, whilst the larger left-hand room retains the original spine beam to the west end bay and a 19th-century fireplace in the end wall. The first floor displays a pair of purlins and the tops of two box-frame crosswalls with principal trusses above. Within the crosswall between the central and west-end bays, a blocked doorway is indicated by a pair of studs interrupting the tie-beam. A possible blocked doorway also appears in the crosswall between the staircase and the east end, dividing the upper floors of the two cottages. The west end contains a small 19th-century brick fireplace.

No information is currently available regarding the interior of 1 Lower Toothill Farm Cottage or the 19th-century rear extensions to either cottage, though early timber-framing may also survive in the east end of the main range.