Birdbrook And Tamarisk Cottage

Tamarisk Cottage and Birdbrook are two cottages located on Woolstone Road, dating from the early 17th century for Tamarisk Cottage and the late 17th century for Birdbrook. Tamarisk Cottage features squared and coursed chalk, while Birdbrook has whitewashed chalk rubble with chalk quoins. The right side wall of Birdbrook consists of chalk rubble on the ground floor, with a timber frame above and to the rear, showcasing square framing with slight scantling and diagonal braces. Both cottages have thatched roofs with brick stacks and are arranged in a 2-unit plan over one and a half stories, comprising a four-window range.

Tamarisk Cottage has timber lintels over a 19th-century plank door and a 20th-century plank door, along with a thatched porch. Its original windows include four-light casements with ovolo moulded mullions, and the first-floor windows retain leaded lights. Birdbrook features original three-light casements with splayed wood mullions, along with two two-light leaded casements on the first floor and additional two- and three-light leaded casements at the rear. The cottages have half-hipped roofs with lateral, end, and ridge stacks.

Inside Tamarisk Cottage, there are quarter-turn and straight run stairs in their original position, an adjoining fireplace with an original bressumer, and a complete set of chamfered and stopped beams and common joists. The central partition wall is timber framed, and there is a two-bay collar-truss with butt tenoned purlins. The interior of Birdbrook has not been inspected. There are 20th-century extensions to the rear of the cottages.