Little Lucys Cottage

Little Lucy's Cottage is a small house, likely rebuilt in the late 18th century, although incorporating substantial reused timbers from an earlier 17th-century structure. The ground floor is built with English bond brick on a ragstone rubble plinth, while the upper floor is tile-hung, topped with a peg-tile roof and brick stacks.

The house has a south-facing single-depth plan, comprising two rooms, with an entrance into a stair hall positioned to the right of centre. The western room, slightly larger and containing a massive stack with a bread oven, served as a hall-kitchen. The eastern end of the house may originally have been divided into two unheated service rooms; the present right-hand stack is likely 20th century and not integrated into the end wall. A 19th-century outshut extends to the rear (north) and has a catslide roof and a 20th-century porch. The house is situated close to Lucy's Farmhouse and was possibly part of the same complex.

The two-storey, three-window front is asymmetrical, with a gabled roof and a projecting left-hand stack featuring tile-hung set-offs. Both chimney shafts have corbelled brick cornices. Steps lead to a 19th-century six-panel front door, with glazed upper panels, sheltered by a flat porch hood. Two bricks beside the door are dated 1766, bearing the initials MH and AH. The windows are 19th-century timber casements with glazing bars, including a three-light window to the left of the door and a two-light window with a one-light window above. A blocked opening with a segmental brick arch to the right of the door suggests a former cellar. The front elevation is buttressed at the left end.

Inside, there is extensive 17th-century carpentry, with most of the ceiling beams being reused. The principal western room features intersecting moulded beams with scroll stops and hollow-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops, along with truncated stopped joists. The joists in the eastern room also appear reused, and a crossbeam with redundant mortises for a partition may be secondary. The dog-leg staircase, leading to the attic, is probably late 18th century and features a moulded handrail. Early joinery includes late 17th and 18th century ledged plank doors.

The roof structure is a tie-beam roof with staggered butt purlins. The construction is mostly concealed, but appears consistent throughout, with tie beams supported on wall posts, some of which have chamfered square-cut jowls.

It is a charming small traditional house characteristic of the region.