The Black Cottage

The Black Cottage, Seabrook Road, Hythe

This is a cottage that served for a time as tearooms. It comprises three distinct building phases: the north-east section dates to the mid-18th century, an extension to the south-east was added around 1800, and a further extension to the west was constructed in the 19th century. A 20th-century south conservatory and cat run are present but are not of special interest.

The north-east and south-east sections are built of two storeys in painted Flemish bond brickwork with tiled roofs—hipped to the north-east and half-hipped to the south-east—and a tall brick chimneystack. The west section is single-storey, constructed mainly of Kentish ragstone with some brickwork above, topped with a gabled tiled roof in two ranges and a brick chimney at the eastern end.

The building originally consisted of a two-storey single-bay cottage with an end chimneystack. It was extended by one bay on two floors to the south-east. Subsequently, a walled enclosure to the west was adapted to form a large additional ground-floor room, and the original front entrance on the eastern side of the north-east elevation was converted into a window.

The north or entrance front of the eastern part has one first-floor casement window and two ground-floor casement windows with cambered head linings. The western ground-floor window retains a stone step underneath and was originally the main entrance; an iron tie is visible here. The east elevation shows a change of levels between north and south sides, with a small cambered-headed casement window lighting the staircase. The south side features a first-floor casement, a ground-floor casement with cambered head, and a rear entrance. The western side is single-storey with Kentish ragstone walls on the north side still retaining traces of black pigment, and a wide 19th-century ledged and braced plank door with a bench mark carved to its left. The lower western wall is Kentish ragstone, interrupted by two inserted casement windows, while the upper wall and two gables are of stretcher bond brickwork. The western part of the south front is constructed partly of Kentish ragstone and partly of brick.

Interior features include a north-east ground-floor room with a brick chimneypiece of stretcher bond with timber lintel and cambered arch in the north wall. The chimney contains a large hook for hanging a pot or smoking food and large nails. A wooden winder staircase adjoins this room. The ceiling comprises three beams with thin chamfers; nail holes indicate it was originally plastered. A brick-tiled floor is present at a higher level than adjoining rooms. The south-eastern room has an exposed brick western wall of 18th-century random bond brickwork, formerly external, and a ledged plank south door with old hinges. A fireplace is thought to have been removed from the eastern wall. The winder staircase leads to the first floor with 20th-century splat balustrading at its head. The north-east first-floor room shows exposed brickwork to the chimneystack. The south-east part is divided into two rooms by 19th-century plank panelling, which also divided a single south window. These rear rooms have a half-hipped ceiling with exposed rafters. The roof structure of the north-eastern part is hipped with rafters and collar beams; a half-hipped roof of common rafters with ridgepiece has been added to the south. The main access to the cottage now leads directly into the western ground-floor room, which contains a brick fireplace of stretcher bond with wooden lintel and cambered arch, and a ceiling with exposed axial beam and floor joists.

The cottage appears on a map of Hythe dated between 1820 and 1830, where two other cottages scattered along the road between Hythe and Seabrook are also shown—though this is now the only survivor. It also appears on a pre-1851 map of the Royal Military Canal. The 1870 Ordnance Survey map shows the building to its present extent with a dividing line between eastern and western halves, set within a sizeable plot with trees on the west side. By 1898, the plot had decreased considerably, with a nursery and greenhouses shown to the south-west. The cottage derives its name from its former coating in tar-like weatherproof material. During the 1930s it operated as The Black Cottage Tea Rooms.