Duck End Cottage

Duck End Cottage is a house dating to the late medieval period, with significant remodelling during the 17th century. It is a cruck-framed building. The exterior is a mix of roughcast over a timber frame on a limestone rubble plinth, weatherboarding on the right bay, and steeply pitched thatch roofing, hipped to the right; the left end has a brick stack rendered in stone. Originally a hall house, a first floor and stack were inserted in the 17th century. The cottage is one storey and attic, with a two-window front. A 20th-century door is located to the right of two 19th-century two-light casement windows. A bread oven is set into the left side of the building.

The interior retains two and a half bays of the original medieval cruck-framed house. The left cruck has a morticed collar and originally supported a partition wall. A raised cruck to the right shows chamfering with pyramid steps to the arch-braced collar and ridge-piece, which rests on a saddled apex. Through purlins include wind braces. Notable features include 17th-century chamfered beams and an open fireplace with a chamfered bressumer. The raised cruck was built over the medieval hall, with the bays to the right having been removed.

References: A. Pacey, Duck End: a group of Oxfordshire Houses, 1985, pages 56-57 for sections and page 31 for plans; Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock, PRN 3387 for photographic and drawn survey.