Malmains Cottage

Malmains Cottage

House thought to have been built in the 16th century, with significant alterations and additions in subsequent centuries. Early 21st-century extensions to the north and south ends do not contribute to the special interest of the building.

The cottage is built in red brick laid in Flemish bond, with the first floor tile-hung. The original part of the building has a rubblestone plinth which supported a timber frame; parts of this frame survive within the building. A hipped roof, covered with plain tiles, is topped by a tall chimney with a stepped upper section which appears to have been partly rebuilt. The window frames are timber casements, most of the window openings having been enlarged. There are also two small historic windows with timber diamond-mullions and leaded lights.

The house is set on a roughly north-south axis and now forms a long rectangle on plan. The original parts of the building occupy the centre, comprising two units to the north of the stack and one unit to the south. Early 21st-century in-line extensions occupy either end; the northern extension is two-storey, and the southern extension is single-storey.

On the western, road-facing elevation, the house is now six windows wide, the northern and southern windows belonging to the early 21st-century extensions. The entrance opens into the north end of the room to the north of the stack, with a timber surround and simple bracketed hood. To the north of the doorway are two-light casement windows, and to the south are three-light windows, with the ground-floor windows being taller. Beneath the eaves, in line with the stack, is one of the historic timber-mullioned windows. To the south of the stack is the final original bay. On the eastern, garden-facing elevation, the entrance is beneath the stack and protected by a 2005 brick porch. Slightly to the north, beneath the eaves, is the second historic mullioned window. The arrangement of windows mirrors that on the west elevation; the stair is lit by a small ground-floor window which appears to have been reduced from a doorway. The northern extension is built in a style closely following that of the existing building in both form and materials, with a substantial projecting end stack. The single-storey southern extension is also sympathetic to the original building.

Inside, the western entrance opens into the central room, now the dining room, with the substantial brick stack to the south. The eastern entrance opens to a small lobby to the east of the stack, which has a chamfered bressumer to the dining room opening and incorporates transverse beams to both north and south. An axial beam runs the length of the central ground-floor room, set into a transverse beam. Both beams are chamfered and stopped with rounded step stops, as are the joists set into the axial beam. At the southern end, the axial beam is set into the beam above the chimney opening; at the northern end, it is truncated by the insertion of the partition forming the southern limit of the current stair. The northern wall of the stair retains elements of original framing, including a joweled post at the junction with the eastern wall; in the beam above is a redundant mortice for a stud. The brace in this position is a later addition. The northern ground-floor room, now the sitting room, has been enlarged by the extension to the north with the removal of the northern end wall. The southern portion of the room does not appear to retain framing comparable with that of the dining room; there is an unchamfered axial beam supported at the southern end by a fairly crude post rather than being framed into the wall, and the joists have been covered. The southern room, now the kitchen, has also been enlarged with the removal of the southern wall; no historic features are visible within this area. On the first floor, the stair landing opens to the south to the central room; a small window has been inserted in the partition wall, known locally as a 'look light'. In the central room the lower part of the roof structure is exposed, together with the posts and studs beneath the wall plate. Above the chimney opening, the truss is exposed, resting on jowled posts. At the southern end of the room's eastern wall is one of the historic mullioned windows, apparently fitting into the original framing; the framing suggests a similar window may have filled an opening at the northern end of this wall. In the space to the east of the stack there is now a cupboard. To the west of the stack a passage leads to the southern room, now lit by a historic mullioned window, possibly not in its original position; the brick stack rises to the east of this space. The southern section of the first floor has been divided into two rooms but the main elements of the frame remain visible. The timber framing of the northern room is largely exposed, with straight downward braces to the northern corners; the lower part of the hipped roof structure is also exposed. The upper part of the roof space was accessible only to the south of the stack. Here, the principal rafters adjoining the stack appear to have been blackened by smoke, supporting the theory of an original smoke-bay, though this is not conclusive. The rafters are pegged at the apex. The stack itself appears to be of 17th-century brickwork.