The Old Cottage

The Old Cottage is a house dating from the 15th century, with alterations and extensions made in the late 16th century, and a refronting in the late 18th to early 19th century. It features a timber frame with brick infill and brickwork, topped by an old plain-tile roof with brick ridge stacks. The house is structured as a 3-bay hall with storeyed ends and has been extended at the rear. It stands two storeys tall with a two-window brick front in Flemish bond. The entrance, located to the left of the center, has a four-panelled door with a canopy on shaped brackets, flanked by segmental-arched three-light casements. There are two similar casements on the first floor, and a passage entry is situated at the extreme right. The rear wall is timber framed, and there is a 16th-century timber-framed two-bay rear wing that returns to the left, featuring a timber-framed stair tower at the angle. A lower timber-framed outbuilding, now part of the house, is located beyond this wing.

Inside, the left bay retains a medieval first floor with an internal jetty over remnants of the original stud partition, along with a bolection fireplace and oak panelling from around 1600. The central and right bays have a 16th-century inserted floor with chamfered-and-stopped joists and intersecting beams. The roof includes clasped purlins, lower king-strut trusses, and heavy curved windbraces. The rear wing contains a central open fireplace with a chamfered bressumer and ashlar jambs, heavy joists, and a queen-strut roof with curved windbraces. In the passage, there is a brick inscribed "IB 1798" in a blocked doorway.