Wybourne Cottages

Wybourne Cottages, High Street

A house subdivided into two cottages, situated on the south side of the High Street in Kemsing.

The building originated around the 15th century and was remodelled in the late 16th or early 17th century. It was extended and divided into separate cottages in the 18th or 19th century, and underwent extensive restoration in the late 20th century.

The structure is timber-framed, partly rebuilt in brick and with some concrete block rebuilding. The roof is of plain red tiles, hipped and gable-ended, with brick gable ends and axial stacks with brick shafts.

The original 15th-century house is arranged on a north-south axis as the west range, comprising three timber-framed bays. The two right-hand (north) bays, now No. 1, were originally open to the roof, served by a Crown-post roof structure. The surviving Crown-post is not smoke blackened. The left-hand (north) bay, now No. 2, may have been the service end and screens passage, though this is conjectural.

In the late 16th or early 17th century, the two right-hand bays were floored and the right-hand (north) bay was extended at the front (east) with a fireplace on its left (south) side. The left-hand (north) bay was altered, possibly in the late 17th century, and a shallow extension was built at the back containing a large stack. The left (south) bay of the original house was also extended at the front (east). A single-storey outshut was inserted between the two front (east) projections at a later date, possibly when the house was divided into two cottages. This outshut was heightened to two storeys in the late 20th century as part of the extensive restoration, which included the rebuilding of some walls and the removal and resetting of the roof structure.

No. 1 is two storeys and attic. The north front has an asymmetrical two-window elevation, rebuilt in red brick on the ground floor and close studding on the first floor, with 20th-century two-light casements with glazing bars and a central 20th-century plank door. A 20th-century hipped former occupies the centre. The right-hand (west) elevation has Flemish bond brick on the ground floor with blue headers (the left-hand section is stretcher bond brick) and close studding on the first floor with plaster infilling and a blocked four-light window with hollow chamfered mullions. The gable to the right projects and has some random bond brick on the ground floor and light scantling vertical studding above. The left-hand (east) elevation is under a three-span hipped roof with a small 20th-century hipped dormer in the central span. The first floor is tile-hung and the ground floor is red brick, partly in Flemish bond. An asymmetrical arrangement of 20th-century two-light casements and doorway to the right of centre features a 20th-century panelled door and 20th-century open porch. To the left is a 20th-century brick outshut. The rear (south) elevation has a brick ground floor and applied timber framing to rendered concrete blocks above, with asymmetrical fenestration of 20th-century two-light casements and a 20th-century plank door to the right with 20th-century open porch. A small tile-hung hipped dormer is set high up in the roof to the left.

In the interior of No. 1, dividing the two bays is a moulded ceiling beam with two rolls in a wide hollow chamfer and large hollow stops. Above this beam on the first floor is a chamfered cambered tie-beam with curved brackets to the wall posts. The tie-beam supports an octagonal Crown-post with a moulded capital and base, featuring two rolls to the capital and one to the base. The Crown-post has arched braces to the collar and collar purlin. The common rafters have been replaced. The left (south) side of the central bay has a moulded beam in the party wall between the two houses. The front (east) wing has a large brick fireplace with a Tudor arch timber lintel with recessed spandrels and rough unchamfered beams. This is now one room with the right-hand bay of the original house to the west, which has chamfered ceiling beams with hollow step stops.

No. 2 has a large brick fireplace in the west wall with a rough timber lintel and an exposed mid-rail (now a ceiling beam) with mortices for diamond-section mullions. None of the original roof survives over No. 2.