St Nortons Cottages

These two cottages, originally a farmhouse, date to the mid to late 16th century with alterations in the early to mid 17th century, and a refurbishment around 1970. The structure is timber-framed; the ground floor is largely built with 19th-century Flemish bond red brick, while the timber framing is exposed above the first floor. The roof is covered in peg tiles, with a brick chimney stack and a 17th-century brick chimneyshaft.

The farmhouse was originally a three-room plan, set back from the road facing south-southeast. Its original layout included a through-passage. The left (west) end contained an unheated inner room, adjacent to a hall with a central stack that originally backed onto the passage. The hall was floored from the beginning, and the mid to late 16th-century stack served fireplaces for the hall and the chamber above. The right-hand room was the original service end, unheated, but was converted into a kitchen in the early to mid 17th century, with a new fireplace built in the original passage behind the hall fireplace, creating a lobby entrance plan. The building was likely divided into cottages in the mid to late 19th century. Number 1 occupies the former inner room and hall section, while Number 2 occupies the 17th-century kitchen and a likely 19th-century outshot to the rear.

The house is two storeys with attic space in the roof, and a lean-to outshot to the rear of the right-hand end.

The front and rear first-floor framing is arranged in four uneven bays, indicating the original layout. Some posts have curving tension braces. The front has an irregular five-window arrangement, with a mix of casement and fixed pane windows. These windows are mostly 20th-century replacements, but the three smaller first-floor windows retain original plain frames, and some have original diamond mullions, with more mullions present in other walls. The original front doorway was blocked when the ground floor was underbuilt; however, the doorway to Number 2 is located nearby on the right. The doorway to Number 1 is to the left of centre, leading into the upper end of the former hall. Both doorways have 20th-century plank doors with strap hinges. The roof is gable-ended.

The original structural carpentry is well preserved. Most rooms feature plain chamfered axial beams, and some (such as the hall chamber) have scroll stops. Joists are largely exposed. The hall contains a brick fireplace with sandstone ashlar jambs and a chamfered oak lintel; a smaller version is present in the chamber above. The inserted 17th-century kitchen fireplace is brick with a chamfered oak lintel. A rail across the kitchen chimneybreast shows disused mortises along its soffit, demonstrating it was once the lower passage partition. The roof structure comprises four-bay collared tie-beam trusses with clasped side purlins, diminished principals, queen struts, and small curving wind braces. Most of the joinery is 20th-century.

This is a well-preserved, attractive small 16th-century farmhouse of modest status.