Livesey Cottage

Livesey Cottage is a house dating from the first half of the 17th century, with alterations in the 19th century and further work in 1937-38 and 1960-61. It is timber-framed with a stone plinth to the gable end, with brick cladding to the ground floor, rendered and weatherboard to the first floor, and plain tile roofs. The original house was a two-cell lobby entry design, and this basic structure remains largely complete, except for the framing on the front ground floor wall. In the 19th century, the house was divided into two cottages, featuring two doors on the front elevation, and the rear was extended with paired, hipped roof wings. The original 17th-century timber-framed rear wall survives. Between 1937 and 1938, the building was restored to a single occupation with its lobby entry reinstated. All the features on the front elevation date from this period. A single-storey room was added to the north side in 1960-61, but this is not of particular note.

The two-storey front elevation features red and grey brick in Flemish bond to the ground floor, with a rendered finish above. It has an irregular arrangement of five casement windows; four two-light, multi-pane casements are arranged in pairs towards each end, and a central two-light casement is positioned centrally. There is a ribbed door within a small, central, gabled brick porch. The roof is half-hipped with a gablet to the left. A central brick ridge stack and a projecting stack to the right gable end are visible.

The rear elevation contains four windows, comprising one three-light casement, and two small-paned sliding sashes below, with smaller sliding sashes positioned above, some of which likely date to the 19th century.

Inside, substantial timber framing is exposed in both ground floor rooms and particularly upstairs, with carpenters’ marks present. The left-hand ground floor room has an inglenook fireplace with a large bressumer beam and a 1938 infill fireplace. The right-hand room contains a blocked inglenook, backing onto the other, with a 1938 fireplace built into the gable wall. The staircase is modern; however, the location of the original stair is still evident. Diagonal bracing and jowelled posts are visible near the staircase.

The roof structure dates to the 17th century and is substantially complete, except for alterations caused by the addition of the rear wings. It is a principal rafter roof with queen struts; the rafters are halved and pegged at the apex, and there are no ridge pieces.