Northcourt Cottages

Northcourt Cottages is a house, latterly divided into cottages and now returned to single occupancy. It dates from the late 16th century, with the eaves raised and extended in the mid-to-late 18th century, followed by later additions and alterations. The building is constructed of roughly coursed and dressed limestone rubble with a stone slate roof.

The original structure followed a 2-unit plan with prominent gables to the front. The roof was raised and extended by one bay to the right in the 18th century. The building rises to two storeys and an attic. The original part retains the outline of former gables and roof pitch visible to the front elevation and left gable end. It features ovolo-moulded wooden mullion windows—all of 3 lights except for the lower left which has 5 lights—on each floor to left and right of a central plank door set beneath a gabled hood. All windows contain leaded lights and have been re-faced in the late 20th century. The ground-floor windows have chamfered wood lintels; those to the first floor have plain lintels. The 18th-century extension includes an infilled doorway with a chamfered wood lintel immediately to the right of the structural joint, followed by a 19th-century boarded door with a chamfered wood lintel. A 3-light leaded casement with chamfered wood lintel sits on each floor between these openings. Two gabled dormers with leaded casements project from the middle of the roof slope. Integral chimney stacks occupy both ends; the left stack retains its dripstones and capping, while the right stack has been rebuilt in 20th-century brown brick though its dripstone survives. The rear wall features a 3-light wooden mullion window to the left on the ground floor of the original part, and a 3-light mullion window with a moulded lintel to the right.

The interior underwent extensive renovation at the time of resurvey in May 1987. The left ground-floor room contains a chamfered spine beam with stepped stops and chamfer-stopped joists. The front window includes a window seat in its splay; the seat formerly did not extend the full width, as the window itself was restored to its original width only in the late 20th century. A 18th-century panelled window shutter documents the window's former greater width, with two left lights having been infilled. An inglenook fireplace with a chamfered wood lintel (repaired at the centre) with run-out stops contains successive bread ovens and a later corner seat to the left. A former partition running across the room to the left of the entrance, recorded as 19th-century, has been removed. A partition on the right side of the entrance is timber-framed with wattle-and-daub infill and 19th-century tongue-and-groove boarding applied to its left side. Two plank doors in this partition give access to the right room of the original part, which has a chamfered spine beam and joists. This room formerly had a wattle-and-daub partition across it. The room to the right, accessed through a plank door, features three deep-chamfered spine beams and joists; the front beam is not tied into the wall, suggesting it may originally have been open to the front with support from corner posts. This arrangement suggests the room may originally have had an agricultural function—for example, a cowhouse with hay-loft above—before becoming part of the domestic accommodation in the 18th century. An infilled inglenook fireplace occupies the right wall.

An oak winder staircase to the right of the fireplace in the left room ascends to the first floor and then continues, through a plank door, to the attic. An infilled chamfered 2-light wooden mullion window sits on the lower flight. The two left first-floor rooms, now knocked into one, retain a few wide floor boards and a fireplace with a chamfered wood lintel in the front left corner, positioned to the left of the ground-floor fireplace. The room features a chamfered spine beam and joists with attic floor boards visible above them. The tie beams of the roof cross the attic floor boards but are now concealed by a 20th-century suspended floor. The 18th-century extension has wide floor boards and a wide plank partition running across the spine. A separate winder staircase to the attic, with wide floor boards, has a sawn-off newel to its top.

The main attic features a trenched double-purlin roof in three bays with two collar and tie beam trusses. Plank doors occur throughout the building, and the original moulding to the mullions remains visible internally.