West Cottage

West Cottage is a house with origins in the early 16th century, largely rebuilt in the late 16th and 17th centuries, with a further build added or rebuilt in the late 18th or 19th century. It is constructed of colourwashed rendered stone and cob, with colourwashed brick in the 18th and 19th century build, and has a reused slate roof, formerly thatched. Brick chimneys are visible to the right gable end and on the front. The left gable features local brick.

The building appears to have started as an open hall plan, with a complex development history. The present arrangement is of three rooms and a through-passage, with a thick cob wall separating the passage from the former lower end, and a lower roof line suggesting two 16th and 17th century builds. A front facade, facing the churchyard, has three renewed ground floor casement windows and four similar first floor windows, each with two lights and two panes per light. The rear, facing West Street, contains a six-pane opening in the 18th/19th century build, a further six-pane opening to the left of a stack, and a two-pane opening to the right of a porch. A six-panel door is located to the right of the stack, sheltered by a slated pent roof supported on 17th-century brackets. A two-light, two-pane casement window is on the West Street front.

The lower end ground floor room contains a large fireplace with a slate floor and a boxed-in stone stair against the wall facing the churchyard. The doorcase to the passage has roll moulding on the lintel, and the door is of three planks. The doorcase to the central room has a panelled soffit. This room has a chamfered cross beam and a large fireplace with a slightly chamfered granite lintel, containing a stair against the through-passage wall. A doorcase with a panelled soffit leads into the ground floor room at the higher end. The higher end room also has a large fireplace with a fireplace beam. First floor rooms feature a variety of 18th-century doors, including one very large door with six fielded panels, which has been rehung.

Three smoke-blackened trusses above the lower end ridge have been replaced, with their apexes halved and pegged, and trenched purlins; one bay is smaller than the other. No smoke blackening is evident on the lower end side of the cob wall. Two trusses above the central room are likely raised crucks, with a threaded ridge and collars mortised into the principals, though one collar is missing. No smoke blackening is visible on the truss in this section, but there is evidence of smoke blackening on the cob wall. The trusses were presumably replaced.

The house was divided into three tenements in the 19th century. The quoins and the large door with fielded panels are potentially reused from Stowe, which was built in 1679 and demolished in 1739. The cottage has group value with the adjacent parish church.