Little Lower Ease

Little Lower Ease is a smoke-bay house of probable mid-16th-century date, with 17th-century additions and alterations, 18th-century extensions, and 19th and 20th-century modifications. It stands on Cuckfield Road, Ansty, near Hurstpierpoint.

The main structure is timber-framed with wattle and daub infill. The external walls and later additions are of brick with some tile-hanging. Plain tile roofs and brick chimneys complete the exterior. The building is 2 storeys and 5 bays, with the smoke-bay positioned at the centre, suggesting a possible two-phase development. In the 17th century, a chimney was inserted into the smoke-bay in two phases, and an outshut with a stair turret was added along the west side.

The east elevation is painted, with the first floor stuccoed. A central entrance features a heavy strap-hinged board door in a chamfered wood frame with stepped cyma stops and a 3-pane over-light. A small window sits above; on each side are larger 3-light windows in plastered surrounds at ground-floor level, with smaller windows above (the first-floor windows are late-20th-century upvc). End stacks are present. The right return shows brownish brick in Flemish garden wall bond (3 stretchers to 1 header), with an external stack featuring offsets. The end of the 16th-century range is obscured by much-altered 19th-century single-storey additions, though the gable retains an exposed tie-beam and a small 2-light window with leaded lights.

The left return comprises the earlier range, with red brick in Flemish bond at ground-floor level and tile-hung first floor. One wide 2-light window with leaded casements occupies each floor, and a door with small-pane glazing sits on the right.

The rear elevation is mostly covered by the outshut, which displays brickwork of different types: orange brick in Flemish bond near the base, with redder brick above. Two 2-light leaded windows are present, along with a blocked door on the left. At the centre stands a tile-hung gabled stair turret with a small leaded light. To the left of the outshut is a wide 20th-century 3-light window with a small 2-light window to the tile-hung first floor above. A two-phase ridge chimney, left of centre, comprises a 2-flue stack of brownish brick on the left and orange-red brick on the right.

Interior: Much of the square-panelled timber frame survives. In the south ground-floor room, the infill panels of the original west wall have been removed, and this wall shows evidence of a former window marked by diamond-shaped mortices for mullions. The brick chimney retains remains of a large-scantling chamfered timber bressumer. In the north ground-floor room, the bressumer at the smoke bay has a pyramid and cyma stop. Large-scantling cross-beams and joists run throughout. On the first floor, jowelled wall-posts are visible, one with a straight brace down to the mid-rail in the south room. In the north room, a later fireplace features a chamfered lintel below a tie-beam with queen posts. Doors throughout are made of wide boards with strap hinges, and the floors are of wide boards. The roof within the smoke-bay at the centre retains sooted plaster (with some smoke blackening to timbers outside); raking queen struts are visible between the 2 north bays.

The 18th-century section includes a large inglenook fireplace on the ground floor and other simple fireplaces with bracketed ledges. A wide wooden stair features a rounded base newel post with a stop. The interior has chamfered spine-beams with stepped cyma stops, and king-post trusses with raking braces. The 18th-century addition to the east side comprises 2 parallel gabled wings running east-west, 2 storeys with partial cellar.

This is a good example of a 16th-century timber-framed smoke-bay house.