Hall End Cottage

Hall End Cottage is a house, likely dating from the 16th century, with alterations and additions made in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, and further additions in the 20th century. It is constructed of rendered stone rubble with gabled ends to the Bridgwater double Roman tiles. A stack is located at the left-hand gable end, featuring a partially rebuilt shaft.

The original plan comprised two rooms. The left-hand room was originally an open hall, heated by a gable-end stack, while the right-hand room, of similar size, served as a barn with a cart entrance in its gable end. This right-hand room was initially a byre, forming part of a longhouse plan with a cross or through-passage separating the hall and byre. In the 17th century, the hall was floored and the gable-end stack was built. The partition between the cross-passage and hall has since been removed, and the masonry wall at the lower side of the passage may have replaced a wooden partition. The barn conversion took place around the 18th century, with a loft accessed by a staircase inserted across the rear of the cross-passage and rising from the hall. A small, single-storey outbuilding to the left-hand side probably dates to the 18th or 19th century. A wing at the rear of the lower right end is a 20th-century addition, as is the outshut behind the hall.

The west front is asymmetrical, featuring casements with glazing bars, likely dating back to the late 19th century. The ground floor to the left has 2- and 3-light casements, with a doorway positioned between them, leading to a 20th-century gabled stone porch and three hipped half-dormers with 2-light casements. To the right sits a 20th-century French casement inserted into the former barn’s opening. The left-hand side has a small, single-storey range with a gable end. The lower right-hand (south) gable end incorporates a larger 20th-century casement inserted into the cart entrance, which has a timber lintel. The rear features a 20th-century gable-ended wing to the left and a single-storey outshut to the right with a catslide roof and 20th-century casements.

Inside the former hall, a chamfered cross-beam displays an ogee stop, and a chamfered timber fireplace lintel with hollow step stops is set within stone rubble jambs. A staircase has been built across the back of the former cross-passage, where the partition to the hall was removed. The lower right-hand room is partially open to its roof, which is a 20th-century construction, but the stud partition leading to the loft is likely from the 18th century. The hall’s roof truss has large principals with mortices for a collar, which has subsequently been replaced by a later lapped collar. The apex is strengthened by later plates. Massive staggered purlins are trenched into the backs of the principals or tenoned into their sides, and the ridgepiece is set diagonally. The common rafters and other concealed roof timbers are said to be blackened by smoke.