Stream Cottage

Stream Cottage is a timber-framed cottage, likely dating from the early 16th century, with alterations in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, possibly when it was converted to a cottage. Further modernization occurred in the 20th century. The ground floor is underbuilt with 19th-century red brick, while the first floor is clad in peg tiles. It has a brick stack and chimneyshaft, and a peg-tile roof.

The cottage originally formed part of a larger farmhouse. It has a 2-room lobby entrance plan and is set back from the road, facing northwest. The room to the west is now a kitchen and is unheated, while the room to the east is heated by a central axial stack. This layout likely resulted from the later 16th/early 17th century alterations. The original building was probably larger than the present cottage. It is two stories high.

The front has a 3-window facade with 20th-century casement windows designed to resemble leaded diamond panes. A central doorway has a sidelight. The 19th-century door, dated circa 1970, is believed to have come from Hadlow Castle. A 20th-century porch with a monopitch roof is attached to the front. The main roof is tall and steeply pitched, with hips at both ends.

The interior reveals substantial early 16th-century carpentry. Both rooms have ceilings with plain, large joists. The fireplace, inserted into the original smoke bay, has a chamfered oak lintel with a segmental arch. A tie beam across the chimneybreast is the bressummer of the original smoke bay. A full-height framed crosswall exists between the stack and the kitchen, representing the rear of the smoke bay. Two closed trusses are located above; both are tie-beam trusses with crown post superstructures. The faces of the trusses into the smoke bay are heavily sooted, as is the crown purlin. The parlour side of the eastern truss has a combed pattern in the cob plaster infill. The original roof survives on this eastern end and features lap-jointed collar ties to the rafters. The western truss of the smoke bay is incomplete, and the remainder of the roof was rebuilt in the 20th century.

Stream Cottage is notable for retaining extensive remains of its early 16th-century origins.