Ye Old Cottage Ye Olde Cottage

Ye Olde Cottage is a probable merchant's house dating from the mid-16th century, with a date of 1450 indicated on a sign. The building is constructed from painted rubble and features two rendered timber-frame gables that jetty over the ground floor at the front. It has a slurried rag slate roof and a large external lateral rubble stack on the right-hand side facing Buller Street.

The cottage has a shallow-depth double plot plan with its gable end facing the street. It stands two storeys high plus attics and has a two-window range. The first floor features early 19th-century 16-pane hornless sash windows, while the ground floor has a sash window on the right and a central doorway with an 18th-century bowtell-moulded frame and a four-panel door. To the left of the doorway are rare 18th or early 19th-century shop windows with fairly thick glazing bars. The deep jetty is supported by unmoulded oak joists resting on an unmoulded bressummer, with some of the joists being old replacements. There are 20th-century casements centrally located in the gables and an 8-pane two-light casement on the right-hand return.

Inside, original features include oak ceiling joists on the ground floor, an oak roof structure with threaded purlins that have been much repaired, a winder stair leading to the attic, and an unusual oak fireplace lintel with scalloped roll decoration in the right-hand chamber.