Blue Cottage

House, likely of 17th or early 18th century origins, refurbished in the late 19th century and modernised around 1980. It is timber-framed with weatherboarding on red brick footings, featuring a brick stack and chimneyshaft, and a peg-tile roof. Originally built as a pair of cottages alongside the road, facing south, the house has a 3-room plan with lean-to outshots at each end. The right-hand room retains the original stack. The building was initially a one-room plan cottage on the right and a two-room cottage to the left. A partition between the centre and right rooms has been removed, creating the present layout, which reflects the modernisation of a pair of late 19th century cottages. The roof structure indicates 17th or early 18th century origins, though the original layout of that building is unknown.

The house is two storeys high, with lean-to outshots at each end. The front elevation has a symmetrical appearance with three 20th-century casement windows, featuring diamond-leaded glass. First-floor windows are flat-roofed half dormers. Two front doorways have late 19th century plank doors with coverstrips. A continuous timber hood, supported by shaped brackets, covers the ground floor windows and doors. Similar doors are located under the gables at each end, leading to the outshots. The main roof is gable-ended.

The interior displays plain carpentry detail. On the first floor, tie beams of the trusses are exposed, and mortises in them suggest a higher first-floor level existed previously. The roof is a 3-bay structure with mended tie-beam trusses, clasped side purlins, and queen struts.

Blue Cottage is visually appealing and contributes to a group of listed buildings along Groombridge Hill.