The Cottage

The Cottage is a house of complex development spanning from 1286 to 1620, with major restoration work in 1956 and again in 1991-92. The building comprises three interconnected timber-framed ranges: a west wing dating to 1286, an east wing probably of 1508, and a north wing added in 1620. The timber frame is set on sole plates (the west wing's entirely replaced in 1992) and finished with water reed thatch applied in 1991. Much of the original wattle-and-daub infill survives, limewashed along with the frame; some infill was replaced in 1992.

The west wing is a two-bay structure with a hipped end, originally of two storeys but now one, constructed in box frame with full-height posts supporting wallplates and tie beams in standard assembly. Only the outer two tie beams are original; post feet, storey girts and studs have been repaired and partly replaced. Posts are braced to wallplates and ties, with braces visible externally only at the west end, where they are crossed near the top of the facade by an applied but original chamfered and stopped sill piece. This forms the plinth for a four-light window reconstructed in 1992, featuring octagonal mullions with carved bases and caps, similar responds, and a cusped arched headboard fitted against the mullions and into rebates in the jambs. The headboard is carved with the date "1286" and the initials "J" and "B" (for Joan and Bryan Bateman, owners). The south face of the wing carries a small diamond-mullion window of four lights tucked under the western brace and two 20th-century casements. The north face has a 20th-century casement and a small ventilator of 1286, a pierced board in pointed quatrefoil form with the opening defined by a chamfer, quick and scribed circle; a ham-hung shutter survives behind.

The west wing interior is now a single open space. An open staircase occupies the original position at the east end, with fully visible timbers including dragon ties, possible truncated passing braces to the central truss, and a wallplate on the north side jointed by a tabled scarf with undersquinted abutments. A similar scarf on the south has this detail on the top side only. The open roof is a 1992 reinstatement of the 16th-century pattern which survived until 1956, a queen strut and wind braced design, researched and designed by Daniel Miles.

The north wing is of heavy timber framing, painted black, with arched braces to the wallplate. It has one window per storey, both 20th-century casements. A 20th-century plank door in an early chamfered frame stands close to the junction with the west wing, positioned opposite the axial stack. The gable end has casements above the tie beam, otherwise obscured by a 20th-century flat-roofed brick addition running to a 20th-century garage with pitched tiled roof. The garden side reveals different builds with adjacent posts, and a storey girt only to the north wing. Three 20th-century fixed windows and a glazed door to the east wing are visible here. Inside, the north wing has a wide plank door to the kitchen and a very elaborately moulded bressummer serving a large fireplace; heavy joists run throughout. The roof over this section is a modern replacement following a fire in 1956. The north wing is of one cell, with a single cell east wing positioned in the angle between the other two wings.

The east wing carries a large brick fireplace with herringbone back. An inserted floor dated 1620 on the eastern ledge shows evidence for a smoke hood in its north-eastern portion. A beam with ovolo chamfer and double jewel stops is heavily carved with a bracket, zigzag and gouging on ledges. An old brick and tile floor survives. The roof over this portion was also replaced after the 1956 fire.

The west wing has been dated by dendrochronology to 1286 and is believed to have originally formed the solar wing to a small house of which the hall adjoined at the north-east corner, on the site of the present north wing. The house probably belonged to a half-yardlander. The sole plate of the west wing has been dated to 1508, and this may also mark the date of the east wing. In 1620 the single-storey eastern block was floored and perhaps at the same time the north wing was constructed, re-using an earlier fireplace bressummer. It has since been shortened by at least one bay. The 13th-century wing is one of the very few domestic timber-framed buildings of this date discovered without aisled construction. Its constructional and especially decorative details are of the highest importance.