Tudor Cottage

This is a late 17th-century house situated in a row, located in Portland. The construction is of thin-bedded rubble stone, with some large squared stone blocks, and has an asbestos-cement roof. Originally, the house may have had a two-room cross-passage plan, although later modifications have made its original layout difficult to determine. It is two storeys and an attic, with a two-window front. The first floor has a 20th-century three-light casement window and a three-light stone mullioned window above two four-paned sash windows. There are chamfered surrounds to both the first and ground floor windows on the left side. A stone-cheeked porch with a weathered stone slab roof protects an early six-panel fielded door, which leads down two steps from the pavement. To the right of the entrance is a low section revealing part of a former bread oven. A rendered stack is positioned on the left side of the building. The rear wall, which is 1.1 meters thick, incorporates a small pointed two-light window set into a deep embrasure, now partly obscured by a lean-to. An early pent-roofed wing extends from the south side. The rear wall is constructed of large squared stone blocks.

The interior retains substantial early fabric, including sections of heavy tie-beam trusses, from which the main tie has been removed, and two rough purlins at attic level. A stack remains at the south end of the attic. On the first floor, there is a transverse beam with a small ovolo mould, and a small 19th-century grate with an arched fireplace above. The staircase on the left side features plank and muntin screenwork and a 17th-century wide three-plank beaded door on battens. Various good four-panel 18th-century doors are also present. On the ground floor, in the right-hand section, are the remains of a compartmental ceiling with run-out stops to chamfers, a fireplace with stone cheeks leading to a large wood bressumer, and a steep spiral wooden staircase. Large stone slabs within the front entry block a former doorway. A construction date around 1680 has been suggested, but an earlier date is considered possible. The property historically belonged to the gift of St. Andrew's Church. It is recognized as one of the most significant surviving buildings in Wakeham, where considerable changes occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries.