Bourne Brook Cottage

Bourne Brook Cottage is a house dating from probably the mid-16th century, with alterations in the 18th and early 20th centuries. It is timber-framed with brick infill and cladding, and has a plain tile roof. The original central block is a three-bay timber-framed structure from the 17th century, with added bays to the right and at either end, which are two-bay cross-wings of the early 20th century, alongside single-storey sections to the outside. Leaded casements are found throughout the building.

The front, facing the road, shows a 17th-century range which was clad in 18th-century orangey bricks in a Flemish bond with grey headers, pilasters and a cyma-moulded cornice. This section has four windows to each floor, with an Alliance fire insurance plaque between the two left-hand first-floor windows, as well as a stack at the right end and another to the ridge near the left end. A further bay was added to the right, built of brick with a nail-studded, cross-boarded door above and a window. The cross-wings project slightly, with cross-windows on the ground floor, a double door to the left wing, and a lateral stack to the right wing; timber framing is visible in the gable of each. The outer, single-storey bays have hipped roofs.

The rear of the house displays exposed timber framing on a brick plinth, with wall posts arch-braced to wall plate, mid-rail (lower in the centre bay), and vertical studs forming tall rectangular panels with brick infill of various periods, where the lower part of the wall inclines slightly inwards. There is a door on the right, and three windows on each floor, set in panels. An added bay on the left has timbering to the ground floor, with 20th-century brick above. The cross-wings have ground-floor outshuts extending further outwards, the left one including a doorway.

The interior of the 17th-century range features stop-chamfered beams and joists to the two left-hand bays on the ground floor. Visible parts of the timber frame include rear wall posts with arched braces to tie beams, only one brace surviving. Original crudely-shaped joists are visible to the loft floor, and at the right end, remnants of wattle and daub and a timber fire hood. The roof features queen-post roof trusses with vertical studs and mortices in the soffits of tie-beams, indicating the presence of former partition walls. At the left end, there is framing for a former half-hip with a gablet. The cottage was occupied by The Rajah of Sarawak from 1930-36.