Catt's Cottage

This is a late 16th-century house, altered in the 17th century with an addition likely from the early 18th century, further altered in the 19th and 20th centuries, and rehabilitated in 1988. It is constructed of timber frame and brick, mostly pebble-dashed with some tile-hanging; the roofs are covered in plain tiles and 20th-century concrete tiles. The original house was a 2½-bay, 2-storey timber-framed structure from the 16th century, with a half-bay originally serving as a smoke bay. This smoke bay has a brick stack that is partially external. A taller, 2-storey brick bay was added with a gable facing right, during the 18th century, and side outshut additions were built on either end. A 20th-century board door is set within a gabled open porch, at the junction of the 16th-century house and the 18th-century addition. To the left of the door are three timber-lintelled windows with concrete sills and small-pane casements of 2, 1, and 2 lights. Two 2-light windows are above. The left-hand outshut has a blocked doorway with a late 20th-century small-pane window. The added bay to the right features tile-hung first floor and two windows on each floor (20th-century to the ground floor, 4-pane sashes above), and has a hipped roof. The right-hand outshut has a large mid-to-late 20th-century French window. Brick stacks are located on the front roof pitch, aligned with the door, and to the rear of the added bay. The rear of the 16th-century portion is tile-hung, with decorative bands and a small stair window with an iron frame and diamond leading. Various 20th-century modern casement windows are also present. Internally, the 16th-century timber frame is exposed, with a sole-plate on a brick plinth, large rectangular panels with wattle and daub infill, curved braces from wall posts to tie-beams, and a brick chimney stack inserted into the right-hand smoke bay. The chimney features a timber lintel and coving above, with an old winder stair rising between the fireplace and rear wall. The roof has collared queen-post trusses with through purlins and collar purlin, pegged rafters, and curved wind braces. The mortises in the collar of the truss between the first and second bays indicate that the former right-hand half-bay was a smoke bay, and that it originally had a full-height partition wall. The through-purlins are splice-jointed at this point, showing that they have been extended later across the former smoke bay. The added 18th-century bay has large-scantling cross-beams, spine-beams, and joists, and wide floorboards. Various strap-hinged board doors, likely from the early 19th century, were awaiting re-hanging at the time of inspection. The cottage was undergoing rehabilitation at the time of inspection.