Bidborough Ridge Cottage

This is a late 17th and early 18th century house, with later additions dating from the 1940s and 1970s. The house is timber-framed, with weatherboarding on the front, tile hanging on the first floor of the rear elevation above a 1940s outshut, and a peg-tile roof. A 1940s addition is brick and tile, while the 1970s addition is weatherboarded on the first floor and rendered below.

The overall plan is an 'L' shape. The original south-facing range is single depth and three rooms wide, possibly with an original outshut at the right end. The 1940s wing extends to the rear right (northeast) at a right angle to the main range, and the 1970s addition adjoins the original range at the left (west) end, slightly set back. A 1940s outshut is located at the rear left of the main range. The original range features end stacks, one of which is truncated, and an axial stack which has been blocked. The original entrance position is uncertain, but it may have been located to the right of centre, where a small window is now situated in the front elevation. The right-hand room served as the kitchen and included a bread oven, according to the owners; the outshut was likely a pantry.

The asymmetrical front elevation has three windows on the first floor and three on the ground floor, plus one window to the outshut. The roof is hipped at the left end and gabled at the right end, with a stack built of handmade bricks on the right side of the main range. The windows are cast iron casements, likely dating from the early 19th century, with one-, two- and three-light openings. A single-light window on the ground floor may indicate the original front door’s location.

Internally, parts of the timber frame are visible, particularly in the right-hand (east) room where the first floor has been removed and the room is now single-storey, with a ceiling below the apex. Straight up braces extend from the middle rail to the wall plate, and iron strapped joints secure the cross partitions. A chamfered, tapered jowl is present on the front wall post of the first partition from the left (west). Evidence indicates an original window on the rear wall, first floor, now enclosed by the 1940s wing. The centre ground-floor room exhibits exposed joists.