Arabella's Cottage

Arabella’s Cottage is an early 18th-century house located in Letcombe Bassett, on Holborn Hill. The building is constructed of uncoursed sarsen chalk rubble with brick quoins, and has a thatched roof with a brick stack. It follows a two-unit lobby-entry plan, and is arranged as a 1 ½-storey, 2-window range. A timber lintel originally spanned the blocked door on the left side of the building and now covers a 20th-century casement window. The roof is half-hipped, and there is a stack at the left end.

Inside, original beams are visible, along with a chamfered bressumer above the fireplace, which has a cast iron door to a bread oven. A closed timber-framed truss with butt purlins and elm floorboards are also present. A late 20th-century extension was added to the left and right sides of the original cottage, and the current entrance is located in the rear right wall. The cottage gained its name due to its association with a character in Thomas Hardy’s novel "Jude the Obscure", published in 1895.