Smugglers Cottage

Smugglers Cottage is a house that dates back to the 16th century, with 18th-century alterations and refurbishment around 1927. It features a timber frame, with the two northern bays showing exposed 16th-century framing, including curved tension braces and plastered infill. The building has a flint underbuilding from the 18th century, a flint east gable with remnants of lacing courses, and 19th-century brown brick in Sussex bond to the northwest. The southeast gable and southwest ground floor are made of late 18th-century brick in English bond, while the southwest side has 20th-century tile-hanging. The gables and dormers are clad in 20th-century weatherboarding. The roof, which has been tiled to replace thatch, features a brick chimney stack on the eastern gable and an external roughcast and brick chimney stack on the southwest.

The cottage is one storey with attics and has irregular fenestration, primarily consisting of 20th-century windows with metal casements. However, the eastern gable retains a small 18th-century leaded light window that was historically used to signal smugglers by the river about the presence of excise officers. The layout is complex, with the western part separately framed from the eastern part, suggesting it may be the last bay of an earlier structure, with a 16th-century addition to the west, both modified in the 18th century.

Inside, the western end features a chamfered beam with triangular stops, ceiling beams, an open fireplace with a wooden bressumer, three spice alcoves, a blocked arch leading to a former bread oven, and a partition wall to the central bay, which has diagonal braces. The central bay retains some ceiling beams despite the installation of a 20th-century staircase. The eastern bay includes an 18th-century partition, an 18th-century beam with a one-inch chamfer, and an open fireplace with a wooden bressumer. The first floor has an 18th-century partition and a rough-hewn beam. The roof structure consists of rafters without a ridgepiece, some of which are rough-hewn and likely date from the 18th century, with some possibly reused smoke-blackened rafters.

Historical records indicate that deeds for the property date back to 1780. Notably, when the thatch was removed in the early 20th century, an old rapier was discovered thrust up into the eaves.