Castle Cottage

Castle Cottage is a house dating to the early 17th century, with later additions and alterations. It is constructed of regularly coursed and dressed marlstone rubble, with concrete tile roofs that have coped verges to the front gable of the higher range. Originally, the house likely had an L-shaped plan, but the higher range has been truncated to the rear.

The two-storey higher range has a gable-lit attic. The front has a chamfered plinth, missing to the rebuilt back wall, a Tudor-arched doorway leading to a cellar, and an infilled opening to the right of the front gable. Three-light chamfered mullion windows with dripstones are present on each floor. The left return has similar two-light mullion windows on each floor, and a chamfered rectangular window illuminating the cellar. The lower range features a three-light mullion window (with the centre and right lights infilled) with a dripstone on the first floor to the left, and a contemporary chamfered rectangular window with a dripstone below to the left. A partly infilled opening, likely a former doorway, to the right has a 17th-century dripstone and a 20th-century two-light mullion window. A rebuilt integral end stack is located to the right.

Inside, a ground-floor room in the higher range has a chamfered spine beam with stepped ogee stops, a corner fireplace with a chamfered Tudor arch and moulded overmantel, and a 17th-century ledged plank door with strap hinges in a chamfered wood surround with stepped ogee stops. A ground-floor room in the lower range has a chamfered ceiling beam. There is an altered dog-leg oak staircase rising to the attic, with timber framing exposed on the first floor, and wide floorboards to both ranges on the first floor. A first-floor room in the higher range mirrors the ground floor in appearance, but features a 19th-century cast-iron grate to the fireplace. The attic has a single butt-purlin cambered collar truss roof in two bays, with the rear truss positioned very close to the present back wall. A chamfered cross beam is located in the cellar, which formerly extended to the rear, but is now infilled at that point. A cellar is also situated below the tower range, but it was inaccessible during a resurvey in August 1987. A door constructed from 17th-century square panelling with cocks head hinges is in a 20th-century addition to the rear.

It is reputed to have been the birthplace of Judge Jeffreys, and some materials, including windows, from Castle Cottage are said to have been used in the construction of nearby Brookend House. A 20th-century lean-to addition is attached to the right gable end of the lower range, and a flat-roofed addition to the rear are not of special architectural interest.